The Black Apple
by TokehGecko
Summary: "To think this human is an Ootsutsuki descendant..." After pouring Chakra into a weird Fuuin in the Forbidden Scroll, something never seen before awakens in Naruto. Something which greatly pleases the Kyuubi.
1. Prologue

Naruto Fanfiction

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Genre: Kinda dark, good people actually die in here.

Author's Note: I could use a pre-reader?

Title: The Black Apple  
Chapter 00: Prologue

* * *

Sweat was pouring from his hairline to his eyebrows as his eyes were scanning in rapid speed over the contents of the scroll in front of him. The scroll was huge and unclasped, it was surrounding him completely. Mizuki-sensei told him he had to learn something from the scroll and he was going to, definitely. He was going to impress his teacher, impress the entirety of Konoha!

His eyes roamed over many techniques, but most required a very high Chakra Control, as in Jounin Level. He wasn't even a Genin! Gritting his teeth he continued on, in the hopes of finding something he could actually work with.

Blinking, he caught an empty square covering part of the scroll from side to side. Above the square it said:

'_Awakening Of The Dormant – Kekkai Genkai Reinforcement – Pouring Chakra into the Area underneath might pull from the well of the unknown, but it almost surely might not. Large amount of Chakra necessary. Will turn lethal if result failure'_

Naruto's eyes widened as he only truly read _'Pour Chakra in Square'_ and _'Large amount of Chakra._'

"Oh yeah! Amount of Chakra, huh? So a high Chakra Control isn't needed? I hope I have enough, Iruka-sensei once said I might just have a whole lot!" Enthusiastically, Naruto quickly put his hand down on the square and poured Chakra into it.

What followed was an eruption of Red and Blue Chakra around the blonde boy. And then there was pain.

So much pain.

He wanted to scream but he couldn't move his mouth, he couldn't move anything. He felt his jaw pop painfully, his arms burn, his legs felt like they were slowly being cut off by blunt scissors and his head like it was being smashed into pulp by hammers. He couldn't even writhe around as his own Chakra lifted him off the ground and held him in mid-air.

His view slowly turned completely dark until he stood in front of a massive cage.

"_**Interesting, human. To think you have his blood running through your veins. You might just become someone… of worth."**_

He could comprehend the words so easily, but he couldn't talk back to the voice from behind the cage. His sight vanished again and he found himself back in the forest, with the scroll still all over the floor. The pain was no longer there and he could move his body again.

Flexing his arms and kicking around a bit he came to the startling realization that he felt better… better than ever. Breathing in through the nose, he also felt… fresher. "What happened?"

"I finally found you!"

Whipping his head around, he stood face to face with Umino Iruka, one of his teachers. "Yo, Iruka-sensei!"

"What do you think you're doing with that scroll!? That's the Forbidden Scroll, Naruto! You're not allowed to even touch it!"

Naruto's enthusiastic look changed to a stupefied one. "W-what? But Mizuki-sensei told me if I could learn a Jutsu from this Scroll I would become instant Genin! He said so!"

"Mizuki?" Iruka clenched his fists and guarded Naruto all of a sudden. "He lied to you, Naruto." Here his gaze hardened as he stared up to one particular tree. "Didn't you, Mizuki?"

"Of course I did!" With a Shunshin, the grey-haired Chuunin appeared in front of them. "This Demon Brat is such a fool, falling for a trick like this so easily. I can't believe everyone in this Village is afraid of the little moron."

"Afraid?"

"Don't listen to him, Naruto!"

Mizuki shook his head at his colleague. "Don't stand in my way, Iruka. You know who the better Shinobi is between the two of us. Don't make me kill you."

"What are you… Mizuki, what the hell?! What's going on?!" Iruka was at loss for words.

"I am working for an enemy of the Leaf. He wants that." He pointed to the scroll on the ground near Naruto. "It is always highly guarded but somehow the Hokage is always soft on the Kyuubi brat. I figured he'd be able to get his hands on it. Now, die."

Suddenly, a huge Shuriken ripped through Iruka's clothing from behind and pierced him deeply in the back. The Mizuki in front of them vanished, clearly being a Bunshin.

As Iruka fell to the ground, Naruto was completely shocked. "Kyuubi brat?"

The real Mizuki landed with both feet on Iruka's back and ignored the pained shriek that followed and instead faced Naruto. He ruthlessly ripped the Shuriken from Iruka's back, eliciting yet another scream of pain from Iruka. "Yeah, you're Kyuubi. You never wondered why everyone in the village hates your guts? Why you have no friends? It's because you're the Kyuubi."

"W-what?"

"D-don't listen to him, Naruto! You're not the Kyuu-" Iruka got cut off as Mizuki harshly stomped on the wound on Iruka's back.

"Shut up or this Shuriken's gonna tear your head off, weak trash!" With a mad high chuckle he turned back to Naruto. "You're not supposed to be alive, demon boy. The Kyuubi couldn't be killed in any normal way so the Fourth Hokage had to seal it into a newborn baby. That was you. The baby was supposed to die and take the Kyuubi with it to the afterlife. But yeah… like the scum that you are you survived, keeping the Kyuubi alive inside of you. That's why everyone hates you, you little shit."

Naruto had turned completely catatonic and missed the dark chuckle from inside of him.

And then without warning, the blonde boy screamed.

Mizuki, still standing on Iruka's back, flinched at the sudden scream. After a short second or two, Mizuki snapped out of it and frowned at the screaming boy in front of him. "Looks like he lost it…. What a useless existence you are." Mizuki moved to slap Naruto out of screaming like a madman and as soon as he did...

He wanted to scream, really he did…

But he couldn't.

As soon as Mizuki touched Naruto's cheek with his hand, to slap him out of his funk, something out of this world happened.

It felt like got the life drained out of him. He couldn't take his hand back, because as soon as he touched Naruto, the blonde boy had grabbed his arm. The moment he touched him, Mizuki felt extremely weak and he could feel himself… turning tired very rapidly. He managed to take a look at the hand was still on Naruto's cheek and was shocked to see it had turned really old.

And then there was darkness.

Mizuki had died of old age.

As the grey-haired Chuunin withered to almost nothing to the ground, Naruto was still so angry and shocked.

That was when the ANBU appeared, with the Third Hokage in tow.

"Naruto! Naruto! What happened here?"

It was then that Naruto noticed that Iruka… underneath Mizuki, as the traitor had been standing on him, had died as well.

Also from old age.

"_**How very interesting. Who would have guessed that this Uzumaki child had Ootsutsuki blood… And his ability, to think Hamura's dark skill would ever resurface. This human will become a true menace to this world. This means the return of the Black Apple." **_The Kyuubi actually laughed out loud as in the real world, Naruto fainted from shock. _**"It is an honor to be sealed into a direct descendant of the Ootsutsuki. If ever I feared anyone besides Kaguya Ootsutsuki, it was definitely her dark son, Hamura Ootsutsuki. Even father had trouble dealing with his brother…"**_

Outside of Naruto's mindscape, Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't know what to make of the situation. Two Konoha Chuunin were dead and… had apparently turned very old in a very short amount of time. He never heard of a Jutsu like this… Did Naruto somehow have the ability to make people older and then die of old age?

Crouching down near the two corpses, Hiruzen instantly noticed that the ground around them was also… drained of life.

* * *

"I don't know what to say, Hokage-sama. As soon as I enter his mind, there is only darkness. There is nothing to see. No memories, no dreams, no ambitions or anything regarding his past. There is nothing. It's like he's completely…empty." Yamanaka Inoichi, Konoha's best Mindwalker, seemed completely fine after disconnecting from Naruto's mind.

After the Forbidden Scroll incident, Naruto was moved to the hospital. Today would make it day two in the hospital.

"To be honest, I was afraid of catching a glimpse or even encountering the Kyuubi, but… There was nothing. I've never seen this before, Hokage-sama. Even brain-dead Shinobi have more to show inside."

"And yet, he's perfectly fine." The aging Fire leader let out. "His health is outstanding, or so say the nurses. He's suffering from severe Chakra exhaustion, which is rather unlikely for a Jinchuuriki."

"What will you do with him now? You told me he knows he killed both Mizuki and Iruka-san."

"Yes, although I know it was all in self-defense. I'd been watching, after all." His brow furrowed. "But the All-viewing orb hasn't shown me enough. All I saw was Mizuki moving to hit Naruto in the face. The hit never really connected."

"Could it have been the Kyuubi?"

"No. We would have surely sensed it. I had three of the highest capable sensor-nin with me. They say there wasn't even Chakra used." Hiruzen sighed like a very old man. "I'll make him Genin. My plan was for him to learn the Kage Bunshin from the Scroll, but I watched him put his hand on something and then that sudden explosion of Chakra… I have no idea what happened."

"And the scroll?"

"I've managed to pin it down to 'Awakening of the Dormant.' But Naruto's parents are Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina. The only Kekkai Genkai he could possibly have is more of a trait than an ability. The Uzumaki Longevity."

* * *

"_**I never would have guessed the ability backfired like this. It'll take awhile for me to figure things out for him. Haruma never had a Bijuu inside of him, I couldn't possibly imagine how hard it was for him to cope. At least I can heal and organize, Hamura had no one."**_

Naruto's mind was blasted by images of both Iruka's and Mizuki's entire lives. Their memories became his memory, while he also retained his original.

'_**It is no wonder Hamura turned to the dark soon after they sealed their mother. I always did wonder how he was always so… knowledgeable.'**_

"Ugh…."

The Kyuubi looked down on the small human form lying in front of his cage. _**'It seems he has the healing capacity of the Ootsutsuki. I figured he would stay comatose for another week, taking my own influence on him in account even. That weird Technique from that Scroll really did wonders for my Jinchuuriki.' **_The Bijuu narrowed his eyes at the waking human. _**'His might just exceed my own.'**_

"Who… Who are you? I heard you talking?"

"_**You may call me Kurama."**_

"Kurama?"

"_**Otherwise known as the Kyuubi."**_

"The Kyuubi!?" By now, Naruto was standing up and pointing. "You're the reason everyone hates me!"

"_**I am also the reason you still live."**_

"Exactly! We both should have died!"

"… _**Silly human. That human was lying. A Bijuu like me can NEVER die. And if you play your cards right, neither can you."**_

"What are you talking about?"

"_**You have the blood of an ancient legend, Naruto. I know a few things about the ability you have. I will teach you."**_

"What the hell are you talking about?! You're the Kyuubi!" The blonde started looking around. "Wha… Where the hell am I?! This is a creepy place!"

"_**The inside of you mind. It is quite the abyss at the moment. After what you did, things have changed here. The only one who can see things in here as of now are its owner. Or in your case, since I'm sealed inside of you, owners."**_

"You are talking gibberish, Kyuubi."

"_**Call me Kurama. It is my given name. Kyuubi simply means Nine Tails. It is not a name."**_

"…." Naruto pinched himself. "I must be dreaming. The Kyuubi is actually talking to me?"

Kurama cursed as Naruto slowly vanished from his view. "_**That's bad. As soon as he wakes up in the real world, the memories of those two humans will bombard him into submission."**_ The giant fox then shrugged._** "But it's also good, he'll come back here and then he'll be easier to talk to."**_

* * *

_**Mizuki:**  
_"_Yes, Orochimaru-sama. I will do as you say."_

_**Iruka:**  
_"_So that's the Kyuubi Kid, huh? Doesn't really look like a real threat to me. But I'll keep my distance just the same."_

_**Mizuki:**  
_"_Congratulations, Iruka! We're both Chuunin, can you believe it?!"_

_**Iruka:**  
_"_Perform the Henge, Naruto!"_

'_Geez, and this kid is supposed to be all dangerous?! He can't even transform!'_

_**Mizuki:**  
_"_Sasuke is top of the class, as you predicted. I can take him out of Konoha and to you, if you want?"_

"_Don't be a fool, Mizuki. You're still too weak. I will give you power soon, more power."_

_**Iruka:**  
_"_No, you idiot, you didn't find me! I found you! Quit skipping class!"_

Naruto screamed as loud as he could as he just didn't know who he was. The Third was standing by his bed and quickly held his hand, but it did nothing to assuage the situation. "Naruto! Naruto!"

But Naruto was already succumbing to the unconsciousness. "I am… Naruto?" Was the last thing The Third heard.

* * *

"**Welcome back, Naruto."**

"… W-what's going on with me? Who am I? I am… Naruto? Or Mizuki? Iruka? Iruka-sensei? Mizuki-sensei? Naruto? The Demon Brat?" Kurama watched as Naruto fell to his knees grabbing his head in desperation. "W-who am I?!"

"**Calm down!"**

But he couldn't. He kept talking to himself.

"Am I the demon brat? I am Iruka?"

Kurama released a massive amount of Killer Intent to scare the confusion out of the blonde. It took a few seconds, but Naruto finally managed to look up to Kurama. "K-Kurama, right? The Kyuubi? This means I must be… the Demon brat?"

"**Calm down."**

After observing the human and contemplating on whether telling the boy everything would be too much, Kurama decided he didn't really care much for the human psyche. He could fix it anyway. Probably. Maybe.

"**Listen to me very carefully. You are Uzumaki Naruto. When you poured Chakra into that sealed Fuuinjutsu in the Forbidden Scroll, you have awakened your… Kekkai Genkai."** With a small blast of Chakra, Kyuubi quickly stopped Naruto from talking. **"Don't interrupt me, Naruto. Your Bloodline Limit is one only seen once before in this world. In one man. The twin brother of the Sage of the Six Paths."**

Kurama regarded Naruto in a very serious light and hesitated in continuing, before he nodded to himself and decided. **"I know everything you know, Naruto. I believe it is also time for you to know everything I know."**

And thus Kurama told him about the Sage of the Six Paths, of Kaguya Ootsutsuki and her two sons, of Hagoromo and his two sons, of Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama, Of the creation of the Shinobi Countries and Villages.

And of his parents, Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina.

He didn't tell Naruto how cursed the power that was bestowed upon him was. Just like with Haruma, it might just kill the brightness inside Naruto.

No, some things were better left unsaid.

* * *

'_This fragile old man shouldn't be Hokage!' - Mizuki_

Memories, visions, opinions, experiences.

'_If only the Yondaime Hokage hadn't sacrificed himself…' – Iruka_

Thanks to Kurama, Naruto could now at least differentiate between memories he was blasted with as soon as he came face to face with someone. It still felt as if HE was thinking these things, as if HE lived through these memories. It was still so, everything was still so confusing.

"**You're lucky I am sealed inside of you. Without me, you would be completely lost now. Of course, eventually, your mind would be able to comprehend, but I just sped up the process. Human minds are inferior to ours, you see."**

At the moment, Naruto was seated in front of Hiruzen's desk. Just like with every other person, Naruto was bombarded with images in his head regarding the person he was facing. Memories of how Mizuki and Iruka had interacted with the aging leader of Fire. And also with how Iruka and Mizuki regarded the Third.

It seemed like a sneaky way of Information Gathering…

"Do you feel any different, Naruto-kun?"

Of course he did. He had completely absorbed the essences of Iruka and Mizuki. He could even perform every technique they held in their arsenal. But Kurama advised him not to share this certain fact with anyone. He could understand why this was important.

"Old man? I… I killed Iruka-sensei? "

The Third narrowed his eyes gently here. "… While it is true Umino Iruka-san has passed away, I think you are hardly to blame."

While being twelve years old, Naruto could somehow understand words spoken to him with a lot more ease. This obviously because of the recent absorption of two adult humans. "I don't understand, jiji… The-they just… Mizuki-sensei, he…" Naruto paused as he tried to gather the right words. "He tried to kill me, old man."

The blonde watched his leader nod his head understandingly. "I know, Naruto-kun."

"Then! Then!" He dropped his head. "I don't know what happened…" He mumbled.

"Self-defense is what happened, Naruto-kun. However, your self-defense was quite… extreme. Unfortunately, it swept Iruka-san along."

"My self-defense… extreme? What? I… I don't even remember what happened!" The boy rose from his seat. "What did I do, old man!? I.. Mizuki-sensei said I was the Kyuubi!"

"**You seem proficient in the art of deception already, human."** Kurama rumbled from inside.

"You're not the Kyuubi, Naruto! The demon is sealed inside of you, that's it! You're you, you're Uzumaki Naruto!" The Fire Leader roared, also getting up from his seat.

'I am also the son of Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina, but I'm not supposed to know this, huh?' Naruto glared at his leader defiantly, but soon dropped his head again. "I… I don't know what to do, jiji."

"You looked into the Forbidden Scroll, Naruto-kun. What did you learn?"

"I… I just poured Chakra into some weird part somewhere. At first there was an explosion of Chakra, but… after that, I didn't seem any different."

"Let me tell you something, Naruto-kun. Pay attention!"

Naruto's head shot up.

"The only thing you did was touch Mizuki. Apparently, just a simple touch is enough to make someone else die of old age. This ability is completely unheard of. Since Iruka-san was touching Mizuki, and thus indirectly you, he was met with the same fate. Your touch is very dangerous, and we don't know if it's only just coming for your hands. But for now…" The Third opened a drawer from his desk.

Naruto caught the dark green gloves the Third threw at him.

"Those are Chakra Constricting Gloves, Naruto-kun. They stop the flow of Chakra only for the one who wears them."

'**They're unnecessary, no Chakra is involved in the drain. You can control your own ability. It's a simple matter of need or no need.'** Kurama informed him. **'Just a simple touch is enough to drain anyone, and not just from your hands.'**

"Dark green, huh? I kinda like the color." Naruto grinned weakly as he put them on. "Jiji, what happens now?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen narrowed his eyes and a challenging smile formed on his face. "Perform the Bunshin, Naruto-kun."

He was bombarded with knowledge from both Mizuki and Iruka. The Bunshin was nothing now.

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes at how easily the boy now performed the Bunshin. The Jutsu the boy before had the most trouble with. "Interesting, that was perfect, Naruto-kun."

"I… don't understand." Naruto pretended as he took a look at his D-Ranked Illusion. "How…'

"Henge, Naruto-kun."

With a flash, the Bunshin changed into an ANBU.

Hiruzen immediately recognized this ANBU to be Tenzou. He was there when Naruto killed Mizuki. "Perfect as well. Now, the Kawarimi."

It was quick, but Naruto had easily switched places with a plant in the corner of the room.

Hiruzen smiled unsurely. "Well, I guess that qualifies you as Genin, Naruto-kun."

But the old man was sure he would keep an eye on Naruto. This sudden mastery of the three basics seemed very suspicious. And he already had an idea on how this was possible.

* * *

"**I am unaware of the specifics, but you hold the ability to drain others of their entirety. My father and his twin brother are the two eldest sons of Kaguya Ootsutsuki. My father's name was Hagoromo Ootsutsuki and his twin brother was called Hamura Ootsutsuki. They had amazing abilities. My father had the Rinnegan, while his brother had the Byakugan. When it came to Doujutsu, my father clearly was the better of the two. But when it came to other skills, Haruma was better. Both held similar abilities, like the ability of creation and flight. But where my father had control over life, Haruma held the ability of death, as you have already experienced."**

"When I touch someone, I get their everything."

"**Just about, but you receive their Chakra permanently. This will make you a very powerful human. You gain their knowledge and their presence. But I don't believe you will be able to drain Kekkai Genkai. A normal human would go insane, but Hamura was no normal human and neither are you."** Kurama closed his eyes. **"Even when I and the other Bijuu teamed up with father and fought against Hamura… We always seemed to be losing."**

"What happened to their mother, this Kaguya?"

"**She went crazy and wanted to kill my father and Haruma. In her eyes, they had stolen a lot of her Chakra. Seeing no other way, the two brothers were forced to work together to defeat their mother. Haruma, at this stage, was still… pure. But after having absorbed so many other humans, it was inevitable… He went down a different path than father. After they defeated Kaguya, my father's new enemy was his own brother. You see, Haruma wanted to change the world and make it one. After having absorbed so many lives, he went mad due to all those different… perspectives."**

"But the same thing will happen to me, then?"

"**No. Because unlike you, Haruma didn't have a Bijuu sealed inside of him. I am inside you, in your mind. I can organize your thoughts. Right now, it's still very confusing since I have but limited access. I need more. All you have to do to prevent from going mad is…"**

Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"**Open this gate and allow us to become true partners."**

* * *

As Naruto slowly strolled towards a training ground the old man told him to go to, he couldn't help but whistle a jovial tune. He also opted to go about differently when it came to his clothing. He had his hands in the pockets of his dark green trunks as he looked at himself. He wore a grey short-sleeved hoodie with an open sleeveless thin dark green jacket covering it. His gloves were dark green as well. His sandals weren't any different, just black ones, his socks were grey. His sleeveless jacket had pockets similar to those of a Jounin Uniform.

His Hitai-ate was gone, the metal was sewed on the wrist-part of the glove of his right hand.

He was thinking about getting some glasses, because it seemed as if his eyes were turning lighter by the day… Kurama had an idea about that, though.

Now that they were true partners, Naruto felt like a totally different person. Confidence oozed off of him and he felt like he could take on the entire world more than once a day. Kurama had explained to him what being true partners meant.

Their Chakra, his and Kurama's… they would no longer be clashing constantly. So he could start working on his Chakra Control earnestly, without feeling completely hopeless about it.

Him and the Kyuubi had found out about another thing, though…

Umino Iruka was a Sensor-nin. It made sense, as it was always Iruka who found him when he was skipping class. And thinking back, he remembered how Iruka located Mizuki so easily… that night. But now Naruto was also a Sensor-nin. And the greatest part was… Since he remembers what Iruka remembers, it came as second-nature. He could sense a whole lot Shinobi around him as he walked through Konoha.

It was weird, but with the way he felt, it didn't really feel like Mizuki or Iruka died. It was more like they just started living inside of him. Of course, he still felt horrible about Iruka's death. Kurama was being a really great help when it came to the sudden memory blasts, insight and opinion moments. Those would only make it even more painful.

He suddenly felt a Shinobi approaching in high-speed and easily noticed how it stopped in a tree about twenty meters to his left. Clearly, this Shinobi was observing him. 'Could it be ANBU? This guy has a decent amount of Chakra.' Iruka's insight told him this guy was definitely a Jounin.

'**Most likely this is your new teacher. That old human told you you were going to be tested, right?'**

"Yeah, to get into a team of three Genin and a Jounin as Instructor. I wonder who my teammates will be?"

In the tree, Kakashi had definitely noticed that Naruto had noticed him. 'The boy's got good instincts…'

* * *

'**If important, I will simply allow them to pass. It is important for you growth and maturity.' **Kurama had told him this before. Somehow, he wished he didn't see what came next…

**Iruka:  
**"_Ne, Iruka-sensei?" Haruno Sakura, aged ten. "Why is he even in our class? He's only goofing around all the time and he's too stupid to understand anything! I like it when he's not here, I like it better when he skips class!"_

"_Everyone is entitled to the same amount of tutelage, Sakura-chan. Naruto is just… difficult."_

"_Difficult?" The pink-haired girl snorted. "He's annoying, loud and hopeless! I mean, look at Sasuke-kunn!"_

**Mizuki:  
**"_Hey, Sasuke-kun."_

"_Mizuki-sensei?"_

"_You're going to be paired with Naruto for a spar tomorrow. Think you can take him?"_

"_That loser? Even a dead infant could take him down. He's a worthless fool."_

"_Don't be so harsh, Sasuke-kun. He might just surprise you."_

"_The truth is always harsh. We don't live in dreams, that dead-last loser does."_

Naruto shot his eyes in frustration and emotional pain. Those two memory blasts hit him as soon as he saw his future two teammates. Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke. He quickly memorized the way their Chakra felt for later use and approached them.

'**Grow up, Naruto. Don't dote after people like a useless mongrel.'**

Naruto understood. He completely understood what Kurama meant with those words. These two never really liked him. In fact, they downright hated him. Naruto barely held back a glare as they were about to notice his approach. 'They are nothing but trash.'

Kurama didn't like the wording much, but it was at least a step into a better direction. The Bijuu would make sure Naruto wouldn't turn too… destructive. For his standards, anyway.

* * *

"Huh? What are YOU doing here? Didn't you fail!?"

Naruto considered the pink-haired girl with a dead stare, ignored her and offered the same stare to Sasuke for the same amount of time. A split second. Then he walked over to a vacant spot near a tree, dropped himself down and leaned against it.

"Don't ignore me! Why are you here?!"

"Hn. So you're our third teammate?" Sasuke answered Sakura's question easily. "Useless." The Uchiha was not pleased at all. A weak fangirl and the dead-last? Fucking fantastic.

"How can you be our third teammate, you didn't even pass the test! You can't even perform the Bunshin!"

Sasuke ignored Sakura as well and chose another tree to lean against. 'At least the dead-last stays quiet. That's the first time I've seen him do something useful.'

"S-Sasuke-kun?" The girl watched as both boys closed their eyes and ignored her. "A-ah, don't ignore me, Naruto!"

"Yo."

She shrieked like a wet cat.

Naruto and Sasuke both opened their eyes to see a grey-haired Jounin standing near Sakura all of a sudden.

"Name's Hatake Kakashi. I will be testing you on whether you have the skills needed to be Genin. If you have the necessary talent, we'll do introductions. If you don't, I don't need to know anything about you, so…" With that, he produced two bells from his pocket and dangled them in front of the three fresh Genin. "Two bells. If you can snatch one, you will be Genin. No rules, you have two hours."

Sasuke instantly vanished. Sakura blinked, but soon followed suit.

Naruto however, got bombarded with sudden knowledge from Iruka.

**Iruka:**

'_The Yondaime's Bell Test. It's a test on teamwork. It tests whether you can rely on and work with people you've never worked with before.'_

'**It's convenient, isn't it? This Iruka human has a vast amount of knowledge of Konoha's inner workings. You should choose well on who you absorb next time. A higher-ranked Shinobi seems wise.'**

"Two bells, huh?" Naruto muttered as he rose from his position. "Doesn't it seem a bit too obvious… Kakashi-sensei?" Here, Naruto dryly winked and slowly walked away from the Jounin. "Two hours, huh? I'll show you. Those two… They will never work with me."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed dangerously. 'He knows the purpose of this test in just under five seconds?'

As the blonde Jinchuuriki slowly walked through the shadows of trees, he couldn't help but wonder about it. 'I'll be Genin if I work alongside those two. Those two who hate my guts. Why would I want teammates who hate my guts? No. No, I'm not going to be a fool anymore! I want teammates who will watch my back. Screw those two. For the next two hours, I'm gonna sleep. Without me cooperating, they will fail as well.' He snorted shortly. 'They deserve to fail. Maybe someday I'll find teammates who don't hate me.'

'**Heh. A wise decision. You need competent people around you. Competent people who WANT to watch your back.'**

'You're right, Kurama. I'm just gonna sit this one out.'

* * *

TBC

I know I usually follow the Canon quite closely, but this fic is gonna go about things quite differently. This will be a BAMF-Naruto Fic, but then, when don't I write those? And yes, at age twelve, Naruto is already the perfect Jinchuuriki.

Are those memory blasts and insight moments confusing? If you know of better way to get these across, I'm all ears!

Perhaps you can already guess where I'm going with some of the things Naruto can do… Like, who will be his next Absorption?

Hope you liked the prologue!


	2. Knowledge

Naruto Fanfiction

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Author's Note: No

* * *

The Black Apple

Chapter 1: Knowledge

* * *

He couldn't really pinpoint the feeling, but if he'd have to guess… Arrogance. Naruto chuckled to himself as he watched Sasuke fruitlessly trying to get the upper hand on Hatake Kakashi.

_Hatake Kakashi, supposedly wielder of a thousand Jutsu. Carries one Sharingan Eye of his deceased teammate Uchiha Obito _

'Both Iruka and Mizuki knew this, huh?' Naruto wondered to himself as he realized he was growing more accustomed to the Memory Blasts. 'How come I didn't recognize his Chakra from before?'

'**Memories, humans are quite fickle about them.'** Kurama interjected. **'I'd venture a guess here that this Kakashi wasn't close to either Iruka or Mizuki.'**

'This touch and absorb thing could become quite… addictive.' The blonde Genin would-be tilted his head in wonder. 'Why don't I just drain everyone of their essence?'

'**You're still weak, Naruto. Besides you being weak, there's also the question on whether your actions will become too… noticeable. A higher-ranked Jounin such as Hatake Kakashi… He will be missed. You will probably be dealt with in a manner you are not particularly fond of.'**

In the field, Sasuke was just releasing a Fire Technique on Kakashi. The Jounin had vanished even before Sasuke had released the Jutsu.

'I suppose.' Naruto agreed. He recognized the technique Kakashi used on Sasuke instantly, thanks to both Mizuki's and Iruka's memories inside of him. 'Doton, Shinshu Zanshu no Jutsu, huh?' With that, he came to the startling realization that he already knew many Jutsu… He knew all the Jutsu Iruka and Mizuki knew, after all!

But he wasn't the hothead he had been before anymore. No, he now had thought patterns averaged from himself, Mizuki and Iruka. He grinned as he rose from his position. He didn't find Sasuke's head sticking out of the ground funny at all. Well, maybe a little bit still… The old Naruto would laugh into next month.

_Uchiha Sasuke. He has lost his entire family thanks to his older brother, Uchiha Itachi, slaughtering them all_

_He is one of Orochimaru-sama's targets. I forgot to tell Kabuto-sama in what team he's going to be placed_

'Orochimaru-sama? Kabuto-sama?' The Jinchuuriki narrowed his eyes as a visual memory blast hit him and he knew exactly who Orochimaru and Yakushi Kabuto were. 'Kabuto is currently a Genin from Konoha and a spy for Orochimaru, who is the leader of Otogakure..'

Kurama chuckled madly. **'It seems Iruka is not the only one who's useful. This Mizuki human knows a thing or two as well.'**

In the field, Sasuke was desperately trying to dig himself up from the ground, to no avail. Naruto watched how Sakura came running, but suddenly screamed and fainted as soon as she saw Sasuke's head sticking out from the ground. Before, Naruto would be all over Sakura, protecting her and whatnot. But now, he wasn't even thinking about it. 'Otogakure, huh? This Orochimaru guy sounds interesting.'

Memories from both Iruka and Mizuki told Naruto that Orochimaru was a missing-nin. He was a teammate to Jiraiya and Tsunade and together they were the legendary Sannin. Students of the current Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen. 'I can actually drain anyone outside of Konoha easily, right?'

'**Yes. That shouldn't be too much of a problem.'** The great Fox Demon was amused. **'It is… fun… to be on this side of the Ootsutsuki.'**

"So… You're not trying to catch these bells, Naruto?"

The blonde had sensed the Jounin a minute ago, so he calmly turned around and regarded Kakashi with a bored look. "You're a Jounin. An Academy Student like me can't possibly succeed without the help of those two." He nodded over his shoulder at Sakura and Sasuke. "I don't plan on doing useless things, Kakashi-san."

"You'll go back to the academy if things continue like this."

"Perhaps that is for the best then." Here, the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki actually grinned. "Or were you perhaps ordered to pass us? The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki and the last Uchiha sent back to the academy, it doesn't sound good, not good at all."

"Careful. There's a law on that, remember?" The jovial tone the Jounin was using was suddenly gone.

"Ah!" Naruto scratched the back of his head in mock regret. "My bad, Kakashi-san!" The blonde then sighed as he considered the Jounin in front of him. "Honestly, though… I'd rather be sent back to the academy than to be in a team where I'm not wanted."

'It looks like he's showing his true self… I can't really respond to his comment, though.' Kakashi put his Icha Icha book away. "You'd waste another whole year? Just because you don't want to be in a team with Sakura and Sasuke?"

Kakashi held back a blink as Naruto actually sent him a glance of utter boredom. "Don't you think that's the wrong question to ask, Kakashi-san?" The Jinchuuriki shook his head and turned away from the Jounin. "I'll clarify. I'd rather be a civilian than be on a team that will get me killed."

* * *

Panting and with his hands on his knees, he considered his options. The pink-haired useless existence wouldn't be of any help. Perhaps that blonde nuisance could prove to be enough of a distraction for him to take the bells. Maybe he'd even give the dobe a bell afterwards for the provided assistance.

Probably not.

Uchiha Sasuke glared at his nonchalant opponent, who was slowly flipping pages of a small book in his hands. The Uchiha didn't take well to being underestimated. Gritting his teeth, the raven-haired boy chose to retreat and find his blonde classmate.

After a good five minutes, Sasuke finally found the blonde slumped over against a tree, peacefully sleeping. He resisted the urge to poke a Kunai through his chest and instead shoved him awake.

"Dead-last."

"Sasuke."

"Let's take down that Jounin together."

"Nah."

Sasuke blinked as Naruto went back to sleep.

What just happened?

He was about to shove the blonde some more, but suddenly found himself pinned against the same tree the blonde was sleeping against. More noticeably though was the Kunai resting against the skin just under his right eye. "Touch me again and say goodbye to one your eyes, Sasuke."

He swallowed nervously. With the way the Kunai was positioned, Sasuke knew it wasn't impossible for Naruto to take his eye out.

Pushing Sasuke to the right from himself, Naruto fell back to the ground and tried to make himself comfortable against the tree once more. "Leave me alone."

Not thinking about how easy Naruto had him pinned against that tree, he tried again. "Look, we can pass this test without Sakura. Despite you being dead-last, I think you'll be less of a nuisance than her in a team." He scoffed as he turned away from him and stared at the direction he thought Kakashi was still waiting at. "She'll just die from being too useless."

Turning back around, Sasuke gritted his teeth as he realized Naruto had the audacity to snore! Another voice stopped him from waking the blonde up again. "Looks like he won't be of any help, Sasuke-kun." Turning quickly and grabbing a Kunai, Sasuke braced himself. But Kakashi was still reading his Icha Icha. "Ah, no need to be so nervous, Sasuke-kun. It is you who should be attacking me, after all."

"I wasn't expecting anything from a dead-last, anyway. I'll get those bells myself." Launching himself forward, Sasuke once again found himself trapped. This time, in a tree. "D-damn you!"

Kakashi simply giggled as he walked away. "Oh, Kikyo-chan, you're so naughty! Behave!"

* * *

Sakura finally woke up from her nightmare of Sasuke being decapitated and took in her surroundings. She quickly remembered she was taking another test to become a Genin and tried to locate any of the others. To her surprise, Kakashi was lying down on the ground quite close to her, sleeping with an orange book on top his head.

"Chance!"

As she reached for the bells, she suddenly found herself with her back on the ground.

"How rude, to attack a man while he's sleeping." Kakashi reprimanded as he walked away from the girl.

The would-be Genin realized Kakashi must have used Kawarimi with herself and at the same time bound her feet and hands behind her back. "I-I can't free myself!"

"No need to scream." The departing Jounin calmly let out. "There's no one near to hear you anyway."

Hearing sounds, Naruto slowly opened his right eye to see Sasuke fruitlessly try to escape from the tree his body was entrapped in. Only his head was sticking out. Pointing his finger at the Uchiha, Naruto laughed. "Haha! Useless!"

"Shut up, dead-last! I'll kill you when I get out of here!"

Within that same second, Naruto was in front of the Uchiha with a Kunai in Sasuke's mouth, as he was still screaming out the threat. "How about YOU shut up before I make your entire face a fucking mouth?"

He was dead serious.

Naruto was dead serious.

Sasuke realized this as Naruto was glaring the mother of all glares down at him.

There was no smile on the blonde's face. No grin or even a scowl. Just dead neutralism.

"_**I think we should both decide that… you will never call me a dead-last again, right, Sasuke?"**_

The Uchiha shivered a bit as Naruto let a little Killing Intent get carried along with the question. With the Kunai positioned as it was, Sasuke couldn't even nod his head.

Satisfied, Naruto removed the Kunai from Sasuke's mouth and walked away. "Get yourself out of that tree, man." Taking a look over his shoulder, he added. "You look ridiculous."

* * *

"That was pretty… disturbing."

Sighing, Naruto stared at Kakashi in slight wonder. The jinchuuriki had walked quite a distance away from Sasuke when Kakashi suddenly appeared in front of him. "He asked for it."

The Jounin tilted his head. "I don't think I heard him asking for a Kunai in his mouth."

With a grin, Naruto also tilted his head. "It was a very silent question. You had to have been there." He suddenly got in fighting position, making Kakashi adjust his own stance slightly. Now the blonde wanted to fight? "But we both know that wasn't a real Kunai. Not like this one…" He started as he grabbed a real Kunai from his holster.

Throwing it at the Jounin, Naruto had already gathered Chakra to perform a Kawarimi with the thrown Kunai to surprise the Jounin.

Impressed, the Jounin dodged and allowed Naruto to sail past him and quickly ducked under three shuriken thrown over the blonde's shoulder. "You like wasting Chakra." Kakashi stated.

Performing handseals, Naruto ignored the Jounin and simply grinned. "Taijuu Kawarimi!"

Kakashi sensed that Naruto had gathered a lot of Chakra and realized the blonde was trying to prove his point.

"Yeah… wasting Chakra is my thing…"

The book in Kakashi's right hand had turned into Naruto.

That was when Kakashi turned serious.

No, this concerned Icha Icha. This was where he HAD to turn serious.

* * *

"I had to fail them, Hokage-sama. They weren't working together at all."

"Be that as it may, you'll have to gather them once again. The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki and the last of the Uchiha have to become Genin as of now. Test them again and force teamwork as you go."

The copycat Ninja sighed. He was seated in front of the Hokage as both of them were discussing the test. "Sensei's son… He's become quite jaded."

"That is understandable, considering." Hiruzen placed his hands on the table and rested his chin on them. "What of his skills?"

"He covered a wide area with his Chakra to be able to replace himself with everything in said area. He called it the Advanced Replacement Technique." Kakashi chuckled here. "It isn't unheard of, it just costs too much Chakra. And it won't work on a Jounin, obviously, since it is slow and quite predictable. He's lucky he has that much Chakra. What got to me though is… at one time, he replaced himself with the bells…"

The Hokage chuckled mischievously. "So he actually passed your test?"

"Nah, I got the bells back before he could even touch them. But it was ingenious, I think he was trying to prove a point. That he didn't need the other two to get a bell." The grey-haired Jounin rubbed his head in slight frustration. "He got this idea in his head that Sakura and Sasuke don't want be a team with him."

"Well can you blame him? His entire class was against him and even the teachers were. The only teacher that wasn't was Iruka, and the boy killed him."

"Yes, you've told me. He has a very dangerous ability. He didn't show me anything dangerous, though. I still find it hard to believe that he got rid of two Chuunin-leveled Shinobi."

"It's what happened, Kakashi. And I have a suspicion that his ability is more advanced than what first meets the eye. If you notice anything out of the ordinary, you immediately report to me."

"Hm, actually… I think he's a Sensor-nin. He spotted me before… while I was in hiding."

Hiruzen's eyes narrowed dangerously. Kakashi, a former ANBU Captain, in hiding and he was still sensed? "Exactly things like that… You see, his skill… this uncanny ability of his. I think he can absorb people by touch… If what I think is true, he can also absorb their Jutsu and their abilities." The Hokage's expression turned quite grave. "Umino Iruka was a Sensor-nin. Uzumaki Naruto definitely wasn't."

* * *

The next day…

Sakura was happily walking next to her precious Sasuke-kun, following after Kakashi. She was pleasantly surprised to see Sasuke in front of her door in the morning. Of course, Kakashi was also there, but she hardly noticed. There was another test for them, another Genin Trial. They were now on the way to pick up the dead-last of the class.

Just like Sasuke, Naruto lived by himself. But unlike the Uchiha, Naruto didn't have an entire estate to himself.

No, the blonde just had a small apartment located in the slums of Konoha. If Sakura wasn't paying all of her attention to Sasuke, she might have felt a bit of pity for Naruto.

Sasuke, on the other hand, understood a bit more about Naruto now.

Knocking on the door to Naruto's apartment, Kakashi felt something was off. He wasn't a sensor-nin, but it did feel like there were a lot of people inside Naruto's apartment.

Kage Bunshin, maybe?

But as Naruto opened the door, the apartment was completely empty save for the blonde.

And completely empty it was… save for a refrigerator, a small round table and one dirty chair.

"This place stinks."

"Shut up, Sasuke!"

Seeing the blonde act like himself again, Sasuke considered the weird Killing Intent from the other day just as a one-time thing. Maybe the blonde had just been cranky or something.

Kakashi had also used his nose, but smelled things all the others couldn't… Blood.

"Why are you guys here anyway? I'm busy."

"Busy with what? Definitely not with cleaning your apartment." The Uchiha continued as his eyes scanned his entire living quarters in the blink of an eye.

The Jounin in their midst disagreed with Sasuke's observation, the blonde actually HAD been cleaning. Naruto was probably getting rid of all the blood. He could smell it even better now that everyone was inside. What had happened? Whose blood was this? Naruto's?

"It's so… small." Came Sakura's voice. "You live here by yourself?"

"No, I just like to hang out here." Dryly turning from Sakura to Kakashi, he frowned. "So? Why are you here?"

* * *

"Trust."

Sasuke and Sakura looked at each other and Naruto, while Naruto simply frowned at Kakashi.

Kakashi had taken them back to the same training ground from yesterday. They were all now seated on the ground.

"That's what we're missing. Yesterday, two Genin teams passed their test. Team Eight under Yuuhi Kurenai consists of Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino and Hyuga Hinata . Team Ten is led by Sarutobi Asuma and his students are Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino and Akimichi Chouji. They have what you lack."

"They trust each other?"

Kakashi tilted his head left and right as he considered Sakura's question. "Partially. They are all familiar with each other. They KNOW each other. You three, on the other hand, don't know each other at all. Therefore, I'm going to ask you questions and you are going to answer me."

"Kakashi."

"Call me Kakashi-sensei, Naruto. And what is it?"

"My assumption from yesterday is correct, then? You have to pass us because-"

The copycat quickly cut the blonde off. "Also, partially. It's my turn to ask the questions now." He quickly continued, lest the other two would start asking what Naruto meant. "Sasuke, what do you know about Sakura?"

Sasuke's reply was quick. "Nothing." At which Sakura dropped her head in depression.

"Try harder."

Sasuke scowled and glared at the grey-haired Jounin. "She has pink hair. Her voice is very loud. Her last name is… Haru… ka?"

Sakura looked like her heart had been flattened by stones.

Kakashi semi-dropped his head and kept his gaze steady on the Uchiha. "Haruno. Her name is Haruno Sakura. "

"That's all I know." Which means 'I don't really care', if one had a Sasuke translator on hand.

"Not good enough, Sasuke. Try harder. I am sure the other way around she knows more about you?"

That quip earned Kakashi a smoldering glare, but Sasuke tried again. "She graduated with top marks close to some of my own." He then turned to the person in question, who seemed absolutely thrilled by this. With great delight she waited for his next comment. "She is not ready to become a Shinobi."

The girl actually dropped backwards on the ground at that.

Kakashi didn't reprimand the Uchiha but motioned to the boy to continue. This was needed for the team. "She has little to no skills. No wait…" Sasuke mock-thought about it. "She has NO skills. Except…" He slowly and begrudgingly let out "I think she has a photographic memory. She seemed to remember everything that was written down on the whiteboard in class." Sakura was back in seated position with a blinding smile on her face.

"It was very annoying." The Uchiha added.

And she was back on the ground.

Kakashi nodded his head. "I suppose that'll do. My conclusion is that you don't know her at all. I will see to it THAT will change. Now, what do you know about Naruto?"

"Why am I the only one getting these stupid questions?"

Kakashi simply offered a cheerful eye-smile.

"He's the dead-last. He can't remember anything." Naruto seemed unperturbed as Sasuke started. "His so-called pranks he pulls off every day are a desperate cry for attention he only sometimes gets."

At that, both Kakashi and Naruto lifted their eyebrows. That was pretty accurate! Sakura was swooning too much to hear.

"His clothes are ridiculous." Sasuke finished.

Naruto looked down at his attire and actually… agreed. "You know what, Sasuke?" Sasuke frowned at the blonde, daring him to tell him he was wrong about the orange monstrosity. Instead, he received a single nod. "You are absolutely right. First thing I do after this weird meeting is get some new clothes."

"Still, that's not enough, Sasuke. Try some more."

"Hn." Sasuke looked at the ground as if he was thinking about whether to continue. "He's hated by everyone."

"Huh?" Sakura actually caught that. "What do you mean?"

Sasuke didn't deem Sakura worthy enough for a reply.

"Yes, what do you mean, Sasuke?"

The young avenger pondered if Kakashi was worthy enough for a reply, but in the end sighed and elaborated. "The entire village hates him. It's obvious. Any moron can see. Even blind morons can see." He pointedly looked at Sakura, before turning back to Kakashi. "Some fools see less than blind morons, though."

"That's not very nice, Sasuke." But Sakura didn't understand that the insult was aimed at her anyway, Kakashi realized. "I suppose that's eno-"

"Why does everyone hate Naruto?" The girl of the group suddenly asked.

Naruto rolled his eyes at both Sasuke and Kakashi. They were real fools talking about it out in the open. He supposed he could come up with "Because of my pranks. I'm getting real ridiculous lately."

"Don't be stupid." Sasuke surprisingly reacted quickly. "No amount of pranks can make everyone hate you." He locked eyes with the blonde. "There's something else."

"Heh! Mind your own fucking business, Sasuke." The Uchiha glare was turned on instantly at Naruto's rude response.

"Naruto! Language!" Kakashi quickly let out, but Sasuke continued back.

"As if anyone's interested in your pitiful life, dobe."

"Alright, that's enough." Kakashi started to wonder if these two could be in a team together. What was the Sandaime thinking? "Your turn, Naruto."

"Alright." The blonde started before Kakashi could say who he had to start with. "Legendary wielder of the Sharingan."

Sasuke immediately sat back in confusion at the weird opening. 'What?'

"Hatake Kakashi!" Dramatically, he rose both his arms over his head. "It is rumored you know a thousand Jutsu because of that Jutsu Stealer!"

"Very funny, Naruto." The lazy Jounin interjected. "What do you know about Sasuke?"

"Whoa, not fair!" It seems Naruto still had his playful moments as he grinned at the Jounin. "We all have to tell a story about each other but you're not playing? Not cool, Kakashi!"

Sasuke agreed angrily, still a bit ticked about having to go first but more about this Jounin having a Sharingan. "You have a Sharingan!? You are not an Uchiha!"

"Obviously." Naruto quickly threw in there.

"Alright…" With a drawl and a sigh, Kakashi folded his arms and hung his head back a bit. "In the war… one of my teammates was an Uchiha. He died, sacrificing himself to save me and my other teammate. He is a true hero of Konoha. He gave me his Sharingan Eye before he died."

The Uchiha seemed to accept this, also sensing the sadness the Jounin was trying to contain. "What was his name?"

"Uchiha Obito… he didn't leave anyone behind, he was an orphan."

Sasuke dropped his head in mental pain, suddenly remembering the past, where the Uchiha were still alive.

"So, what do you know about Sasuke, Naruto?"

Quirking an eyebrow, Naruto sat cross-legged with an elbow on one of his knees and his head leaning into the palm of his hand as he decided to play this game. "I know so much about young Uchiha Sasuke, where to start?" He ignored Sasuke's glare and Kakashi's look of amusement. Even Sakura seemed a bit amused. "I think Senju Hashirama is still alive, because I don't know how else to explain that gigantic tree up his ass!"

"!" Sakura turned red in embarrassment.

"Dobe!" Sasuke looked ready to murder the blonde at least five times.

"Naruto. Be serious!" Kakashi was very clear.

"Fine, fine!" And serious he did turn. "Uchiha Sasuke is the only survivor of the Uchiha Massacre. He is one of the only two Uchiha still alive in this world. The other is Uchiha Itachi, the one responsible for killing off the entire Uchiha Clan."

Kakashi dangerously narrowed his eyes and was quick enough to stop Sasuke from assaulting Naruto. Holding Sasuke in a lock, Kakashi wasn't sure on whether to let Naruto continue, but decided to let him and gestured so.

"I didn't mean to offend, Sasuke." The Jinchuuriki tried to give them his most reassuring smile. "Anyway, Sasuke has good Taijutsu and Ninjutsu, haven't seen him use Genjutsu yet. I've only seen him use the Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu so yeah, he knows that one." The blonde looked up to the sky as he thought about all the information he had from Iruka and Mizuki and didn't know if he should share that. "He graduated top of our class and he… likes girls with long hair?"

"That's not true!"

"So… you like girls with short hair?"

"No!"

"Bald girls?"

"Shut up, dead-last!" Kakashi was still holding him in a head-lock.

"Oh, sorry." Naruto, still seated peacefully, bowed his head shortly at the not-so-peacefully Sasuke. "I didn't know."

Sakura was VERY interested in the topic. "Didn't know what?"

Slowly turning to Sakura, Naruto explained. "He's into boys."

…

"NOOOOO!" Sakura fell unconscious.

"I'm going to kill you with your own mouth, Naruto!"

"My own… What the hell, man?"

"Calm down, Sasuke!"

* * *

Half an hour later…

Sasuke was still glaring deep wounds into Naruto, but the blonde seemed oblivious. Obliviously cheerful.

"Seems you've finally woken up."

"I just had the worst nightmare…" Groggily, the pink-haired girl rubbed her eyes as she focused on her surroundings. She then noticed where she was. "No! Don't tell me it's true!"

Somewhere in the back of his mind, a little Sasuke thought it might get rid of a fangirl… But Sasuke instantly rectified the situation. "Of course not, you idiot!"

But the girl could understand Naruto's logic. If Sasuke didn't like girls with long or short hair, or those bald… then what? For fear of the answer, she quickly paid attention to Kakashi's waving hand in front of her. "Now that you're back with us, Naruto can continue with you."

"Sure." Naruto plopped back down on the ground. "Haruno Sakura also graduated with top marks, just below Sasuke in some areas. She was bullied for a long time because of her large forehead, but that stopped as soon as she became friends with Yamanaa Ino." Here, he turned to Sakura. "I think you should really be nicer to her, Sakura."

A question mark hovered above Sakura for a moment. Naruto was surprisingly attentive during the academy, it seemed.

"She, just like all the other girls, grew her hair out to try and win Sasuke over." Naruto snorted and surprisingly, so did Sasuke. "It… has proven fruitless." Naruto concluded dramatically with a deadpan expression.

"Hm, quite superficial information, but it'll do. It simply proves certain points. Your turn, Sakura."

"Sasuke-kun is the rookie of the year." She immediately started. "He likes girls with long hair." Clearly, she hadn't heard Naruto. "He lost his entire family at a young age and has a broken soul that needs to be repaired by the power of true love!"

Again, both Naruto and Sasuke snorted. One in amusement, the other in disgust.

"The only thing broken here will be Naruto's nose."

"Sasuke, don't interrupt."

"Hey, stay away from my nose!"

Sakura continued as if they were all were still paying attention. "He knows many Jutsu and will probably become Jounin in no time!"

"Sakura, no assumptions, just what you really know." Kakashi supplied.

"What I really… know?"

The Jounin nodded.

Sakura looked at Sasuke and seemed very uncertain all of a sudden. "I… I don't know a lot about him."

"What about Naruto?"

Guiltily, she offered the blonde a look of apologies. "E-even less?"

Kakashi sighed and clasped his hands together. "Well… Let's change that. Now tell us about yourselves. You start, Sakura."

* * *

'How can that idiot kill me with my own mouth? That's impossible!' Naruto was thinking as he made his way back home.

'**You are getting quite used to your ability. The old you is resurfacing rapidly and more powerfully. This is good. We don't want to become too noticeable.'**

'Yeah, I've realized the same thing.' Naruto thought back. 'Especially last night gave me some much needed… clarity.'

Kurama chuckled sinisterly. 'Yes, last night was very… enlightening.'

'So, I'm a Genin now. I knew Kakashi had been ordered to pass us anyway. This means I'll be in a team with Sasuke and Sakura for quite some time… Wonder how that'll go?'

'**Never trust an Uchiha, Naruto. They are known as the emotional Shinobi. Their emotions make them more powerful, but also less stable, mental-wise. Stab him in his back before he can stab you in yours.'**

'Nah, I'm not gonna stab that poor sap in his back. I'm going to cut his arms off and let him live. See what kind of Shinobi he'll be without arms.'

'**Hn, perhaps a leg as well? Uchiha are quite gifted with their eyes.'**

'Yeah, maybe. But then he'll look ridiculous!'

'**And with no arms he won't?'**

* * *

Their first C-Rank Mission. They had to escort Tazuna, a bridge builder, back to the Country he came from: Wave Country. They were to also protect him from bandits.

As Team Seven followed after Tazuna, Naruto was having a mental conversation with Kurama.

'**He called it Shinzui Bunshin.'**

'The Clone of Essence." Naruto understood. 'That means, they're actually still alive, inside of me.'

'**Supposedly, but they are undoubtedly yours. I think they're just Clones in which you have temporarily stored essence in. You should see them as… slaves.'** Kurama paused, trying to remember whatever he could from centuries back. '**There are no handseals for this Technique. It is simply a sub-skill for your ability. You can just… 'will' it. I've seen my father's brother do it, he simply created them from out of his body, like an extension. They all had their own existence, their own character, but when it came to the blood, they were Hamura, they couldn't disobey his commands. The same will be true for you. You can always summon those you have absorbed and let them fight for you, they have no choice in the matter.'**

'How do I perform this Shinzui Bunshin?'

'**I do not know. Experiment.'**

'Wow, see those two idiots? What are they doing? Just standing around like that?'

'**They have concealed themselves in a Genjutsu. Apparently, they are supposed to be a puddle of water on the ground. They're weak. They won't add anything.'**

And then, the duo moved for Kakashi. Naruto smiled and quickly jumped in front of the Kakashi, knocking the chains away with a Kunai. "Hooooaaa! The great Uzumaki Naruto sees through your tricks!"

"Move aside, brat. We'll kill your teacher and then the old man. We won't kill you if you get lost." One of them uttered.

Sasuke was shocked at the speed in which Naruto had moved while Sakura still had to come to terms with it.

"Hang back, Naruto. These are the Demon Brothers of the Mist. They are known for their poison."

Carelessly shrugging, Naruto didn't hang back at all. "Not only that, Kakashi-sensei. They work for Momochi Zabuza."

'How does he know that?' Gozu, one of the Demon Brothers, thought. 'Only few have that information!'

Meizu didn't care and rushed for Naruto. "Too bad you'll die young!" He raged as his claw neared Naruto's face.

Instead, Kakashi used Shunshin and knocked him out in one blow. "You do realize I'm a Jounin, right?"

Gozu, now the only still conscious, dropped to his knees on the ground and surrendered. "Crap."

* * *

The mist didn't let them see where Naruto disappeared to, so now Sasuke and Sakura were stuck protecting Tazuna with just the two of them. Kakashi was still fighting Zabuza in this horrid Mist Technique.

Zabuza had ambushed them further down the road and Kakashi had quickly ordered them to stay put and guard Tazuna. After a while of exchanging blows, Kakashi was kicked away right into the water. They couldn't really see what happened, but Kakashi's voice suddenly yelled out for them to take Tazuna and retreat.

Apparently, the Jounin was trapped in a Water Prison. He told his subordinates that as long as he was trapped, so was the real Zabuza.

Water Clones of Zabuza were approaching them from the distance and Kakashi told them Water Clones would lose their substance when they moved too far away from the caster.

That's when Naruto jumped into the fray with no warning at all, leaving Sasuke and Sakura behind.

In the Mist, unprotected but fearless, Naruto willed a Shinzui Bunshin into existence. Chakra poured outside of Naruto and seemed to rapidly take form.

Kakashi could see him from where he was trapped. "Naruto! Run! He's too much for you! He won't be able to keep the Water Clone up if it's too far away from him!"

The Genin ignored the Jounin and continued concentrating on the Technique. And then, Umino Iruka and Touji Mizuki stood to his left and right.

'**You did well, Naruto.'**

Kakashi's eyes widened from inside of the Water Prison.

Coming from out of Naruto's existence, both Mizuki and Iruka knew all about their predicament.

"Tch… I can't believe we've been reduced to be his toys…" Mizuki growled out. "And there's nothing we can do about it."

"It's what you deserve, Mizuki." Iruka bit out in equal harshness. He turned to Naruto. "I want you to know I don't blame you for what's happened, Naruto. You couldn't have prevented it. Besides, in a way, you've made me immortal."

'**When they die, they die, Naruto. You can choose to absorb them back into you. But you cannot choose to… release them from their captivity. Without you nearby, they will wither and die. They cannot move against you and cannot disobey you. They are quite the… convenient… pieces of existence.'**

"So we're up against Momochi Zabuza, the devil of the Mist?" Mizuki sighed and accepted his fate. "Even if I don't want to, I don't really have a choice anyway. My life is not mine anymore."

"Stop complaining, they're coming."

Naruto watched as Mizuki and Iruka dealt with four Water Clones, but the Fifth managed to wound them both enough to drop them to the ground. Naruto watched their bodies drop to the ground and decided he would absorb them back into himself when the fight was over. Now they were slowly bleeding to death.

The fifth Water Clone approached. "What kind of Clones were they?"

"Shinzui Bunshin." Naruto answered. "So two Chuunin was too easy for you, huh? I guess I can't underestimate you. And you're just a Water Clone, imagine what the real one is like!"

The Water Clone-Zabuza barked out a laugh. "Exactly, kid. Now be a good boy and don't move…"

This time way quicker, Naruto warped out another Clone out of himself. One with more Chakra Presence…

The Water Clone's eyes widened as he recognized who stood before him.

Even Kakashi's eyes widened in… fear…

"Pitiful." Came the voice of Naruto's new slave. "An elite Jounin of Konoha, trapped by a meager Suiro no Jutsu." The newcomer turned his head over his shoulder and motioned at Naruto. "Despite my permanent predicament, I am at least relieved to know this one holds much potential. Unlike you, Kakashi, this one will get very far…"

"S-Shimura…" Zabuza started as he stepped back in caution.

"… Danzo…" Kakashi finished in slight despair.

Naruto simply grinned.

* * *

**_-=~^**^~=-_ FLASHBACK _-=~^**^~=-_**

"They say talking to yourself is the first sign of mental instability."

Whipping his head around quickly, Naruto was surprised to see an old man standing in his apartment. 'I-I didn't sense this guy at all!' He had been talking out loud to Kurama. Narrowing his eyes, he immediately sensed five incoming Chakra Presences that surrounded his apartment from the outside. 'He brought company.' The Chakra Presence of the ever-present ANBU that was guarding him was gone. This meant that this was no visit under the Hokage's orders.

'**Be careful, Naruto. This guy is very powerful.'**

"Who are you?" He tried to let out as intimidating as possible.

"I've heard you've failed the Genin Examination, Uzumaki Naruto. I have come with an offer."

"So… The old man doesn't know you're here?" Naruto suddenly grinned as he locked eyes with the man with the cane.

'**I know what you're thinking, Naruto. Play it smart, this man is very wary… You'll have to be really quick.'**

**_-=~^**^~=-_ END FLASHBACK _-=~^**^~=-_**

* * *

TBC

Sorry if the Chap was a bit rushed or rushed as hell, my head is already way farther ahead with this story and I want to get there quick!

This is not a BASH-fic. In the beginning it may have appeared to be a bit of a Sakura-BASH, but she was kinda clueless in the beginning in CANON… I just wanted to slap it out of her by use of this…

In case you were wondering, the Shinzui Bunshin is quite similar to Edo Tensei, only… the Shinzui Bunshin don't look like zombies. They look very much alive. And also, yes, Naruto absorbed Danzo during that flashback. I chose for this because I think it's what would really happen. If Danzo caught wind of Naruto failing the Genin Exam, he would surely make a move. (at least, that's what I think.) If you disagree, then congratulations for disagreeing.

This also means, that Naruto is now already one of the most powerful Shinobi in Konoha. I've warned you… this will be a BAMF-OP-Fic. It will head to the end where you'll see Kaguya and Naruto go toe to toe…. On equal grounds!

Thanks for reading!


	3. Plans

Naruto Fanfiction

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Author's Note: Some things in this story will come at you out of the blue, but please be patient. I'll elaborate on confusing events via flashbacks and whatnot. Naruto's ability will be OP, and his Doujutsu will add only a little to the fact.

IMPORTANT: First two segments of this Chapter are flashbacks.

* * *

"**Give me control. You're not ready for this."**

"The switch is open, let me try first. I want to see how well my average has become."

"**Tch. You're gonna get bitten." **

Danzo scowled menacingly as he found himself switched from several spots, five to be exact, in less than three seconds. But he was a seasoned elite Shinobi from Konoha. He was not be disoriented so easily and grabbed the offending limb that was about to connect with his face with disgusting ease.

"You attack me." Danzo stated calmly, even as Naruto's Chakra raged around him. "You obviously don't know who I am."

Another three Kawarimi later and Naruto still found himself in the same predicament.

"You've infused the entire building with your Chakra to perform this version of the Replacement Technique. An amusing trick, but not one I am unfamiliar with, I'm afraid." The one-eyed veteran let out as he slammed the blonde into the ground and motioned for his guards to stay put and continue surrounding the apartment complex with a Chakra Suppressing Presence. He was going to teach this boy a lesson.

"Urgh!" Naruto spat out blood as he felt his ribcage burst.

"You're not even a Shinobi, boy. But you can become one, if you follow my every word to the letter." Danzo tapped the cane in his right hand once. "You can become legendary, Kyuubi Jinchuuriki."

"And I will be." Naruto managed and slowly rose to his feet and glared at his adversary. "Who are you?"

"My name is Shimura Danzo." Was the calm answer given. "You'd do well to mind your manners when faced with a superior."

"**Who's the superior?" **Danzo couldn't even blink as he was grabbed from behind by a huge hand made out of red, poisonous Chakra.

"Kyuubi!" To think he had let his guard down because he was just facing a weak punk. The Chakra came from the floor!

Danzo's guards were all pointing swords at Naruto the next instant. **"Call your men down or you die now, Shimura Danzo-kun."**

"Keh!" Danzo wanted to sign to his soldiers to take the boy down, but he felt that he couldn't control his own body. It felt as if he was slowly being drained of his energy. 'My Chakra… is fading?'

Darkly, the Kyuubi having temporarily taken over Naruto's body, chuckled as Danzo was slowly being drained from everything that he was. **"Seems I was right. My Jinchuuriki isn't strong enough yet. But now… now he probably is, thanks to you."** Already he and Naruto both received memories from Danzo. **"Shinobi of the Darkness, indeed."**

The five Root guards moved to attack, but Naruto was surrounded by defensive red, bubbling Chakra. A defense not so easily penetrated.

"**No one will hear your echoes…" **

Naruto, content on watching things from inside, chuckled as he felt himself growing stronger. 'How convenient that my ability works even through your Chakra, Kurama…'

* * *

The Black Apple, Chapter 2: Plans

* * *

"I have some disturbing news, Kakashi."

Konoha's Copycat was standing in front of the Fire Leader's desk, after having been told that his team would receive a C-Ranked Mission this afternoon. A mission to Wave that could spiral into dangerous regions because Gato was involved. He could probably handle it, though.

"My old teammate hasn't been seen for a few days."

Kakashi seemed to ponder on it for a bit, before he turned serious. "You mean Shimura Danzo?"

The Kage nodded his head in troubled fashion. "I've spoken to some of his subordinates. You and I both know they cannot speak of anything Root-related because of the Silence Fuuin Danzo has forced on them. He has been missing for more than a week, which has never happened before. If this week changes into two weeks, I will have to brand him Nuke-nin"

"He hasn't been killed?"

"He is definitely still alive. The Fuuin Seal on his subordinates would have deactivated if he died." The aging leader's gaze turned dead serious and Kakashi straightened his posture immediately. "This is a dangerous situation, Kakashi. Who knows what that stubborn man is thinking? Your team in particular is in danger, seeing as you have the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki and the last of the Uchiha under your wings. You might get targeted."

"So you're saying team 7 won't accept the Wave mission?"

"You will accept. But I want you to use your Dog Summons around you at all times and…. Team Gai will be half a day behind you." Hiruzen tilted his head slightly. "But knowing Gai, that'll probably be less as that same day progresses."

"Understood."

* * *

Kakashi was gaping like a fish as Danzo calmly strutted forward in almost bored fashion. He wasn't even considering Zabuza as he took in his surroundings. Just as calmly as he was walking, he moved the bandages on his head to the side to reveal a glaring Sharingan Eye.

Now he was focusing on Zabuza. "Boy, I suggest you beg for mercy."

Shaking himself out of his shock, Zabuza quickly found his courage and motioned for his accomplice to show himself, too. "Even you will have trouble against two A-Ranked Shinobi."

Danzo actually chuckled. He was quite enjoying this back-seat kind of situation.

"So you noticed?" Came Naruto's voice.

Danzo looked over his shoulder and nodded his head to Naruto. In fact, it looked as if he nodded his thanks to the blonde. "It might not be how I expected things to play out, but I have surely surpassed Hiruzen now."

When performing the Shinzui Bunshin, Naruto can choose many things. To infuse the Clone of Essence with… either his Chakra, his blood or even blood and or Chakra from any he has absorbed. Right now, he infused Danzo with his own blood… Uzumaki Blood. Blood of a descendant to the Senju…

Blood that can make Danzo control both the Sharingan in his eye a lot easier and blood… that can actually perform Jutsu with and control the Mokuton Presence in his body…

Yes, even though he was an undead slave now, he was feeling quite well…

"You want some backup?" Naruto grinned as he had his arms folded over one another. Sasuke and Sakura, way further back in the Mist, couldn't see any of this.

"No." Danzo was resolute. "I wish to test this thoroughly…"

Kakashi swallowed nervously as he saw Danzo perform handseals.

"Mokuton… Mokuryuu no Jutsu!"

Naruto grinned in perfect bliss.

A huge wooden dragon shot out of Danzo's body and flew towards his two adversaries in menacing speed.

Zabuza and Haku were already backpedalling in panic, the older performing handseals in rapid fashion.

'A wood user? Zabuza-sama, what are we up against? Who is that boy?!'

Haku was standing behind her mentor as he tried to fight off the Wooden Dragon with a Water Dragon. But it looked like the Water Dragon was simply being absorbed into the attack. This was to be expected, as it was simply a Water Clone of Zabuza that performed the Technique. 'That boy summoned this man to fight against us and now he's just…' Looking past both Zabuza and Danzo, she noticed the blonde. 'Just sitting on the ground?'

The Wooden Dragon raged towards them, having added power to itself after completely devouring the Water Dragon Zabuza had uselessly used as a countermeasure.

"Haku, we have to run! This is too much!" Zabuza's Water Clone evaporated and the real Zabuza swiftly released Kakashi from the Water Prison.

"You're not going anywhere, Devil Zabuza." Danzo, having appeared by a speedy Shunshin, was blocking his escape. Haku was approaching in the distance, but Danzo had already sliced in Zabuza's right shoulder with a Futon technique. "You'll be a fine addition."

Haku raced as fast as he could, but suddenly felt a horrible pain in his back.

Falling to the ground and managed to look up, he saw the blonde boy from before, towering above him. "A Hunter-nin from the Mist, huh? I hope you're strong." She heard him say as he felt him put his hand to her head. Ten seconds later, she was no longer among the living.

But for some reason, she still was…

* * *

Sasuke and Sakura saw the mist clear away and noticed Naruto and Kakashi approaching them from the distance.

They both could clearly see the huge sword Zabuza was using on… On Naruto's back.

What had happened?

"Is… Is that guy dead?" The stutter came from Tazuna. "Are… Are we safe again?"

"It could be a trick! Don't let your guard down!" Sasuke ordered both Sakura and Tazuna. Why else would that blonde dunce be carrying that sword?

"But…" Sakura was confused, but complied with Sasuke's order.

"Stand down, Zabuza has been killed." Kakashi ordered as he tried not to look at Naruto. As of now, Kakashi was sure the blonde could kill their entire squad…

His analyzing mind was working overtime as he tried to understand Naruto's ability.

"Prove it. Say something only you know!"

"You won't know something only I know, Sasuke."

Naruto wasn't as reasonable as their Instructor. "Sasuke, you're an ass who's into guys!"

"Naruto!" Sakura tried to reprimand, but realized it was actually proof.

"Tcheh, shut up, clown. Did Kakashi give you that sword?"

"Hey, I found it before he could pick it up!"

"Naruto, next time stay with your comrades and protect the client. You can't just abandon an order."

Naruto gave his sensei a sly look that spoke volumes, but nodded his consent. "Of course, Kakashi-sensei."

"S-So…" Hesitantly, Tazuna stepped towards Kakashi. "We're safe now?"

* * *

Kakashi was eyeing his team with clear suspicion in his eyes. They had arrived at the home of Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami. At the moment, they were all eating dinner in relative silence. Sasuke and Sakura were just normal rookie Genin, but Naruto…

That ability was very dangerous. After having thought about it for the entire day, Kakashi had come to several conclusions.

The first was that he could summon people that he had absorbed. Umino Iruka and Touji Mizuki were evidence of that. He was no sensor, but he could tell it was really them and not Naruto in disguise. The second conclusion was that the people he absorbed were actually still alive inside of Naruto. Shimura Danzo was the proof of that one, since the Silence Fuuin Seals were still active on Root ANBU in Konoha. So Danzo was still alive. But how did that work? If still alive, why would Danzo listen to Naruto and fight for him? Thus came the third conclusion. After being absorbed, you're still alive but you become one of Naruto's soldiers, if you could call them that. Danzo would never willingly listen to a brat like Naruto, so there was no other explanation.

But there were also revelations.

Apparently, Shimura Danzo has a Sharingan Eye and the Mokuton Ability. What a dangerous man.

And now that Zabuza and Haku were also absorbed, that meant Naruto could summon more soldiers to fight for him? What kind of monster would he become?

His eye flashed to sudden ANBU handsignals and Kakashi immediately recognized them as 'Talk in Private'

Seems Naruto has learned a few things from his… absorbees? His eye narrowed as he made a move for the door. That could also be a conclusion… Did Naruto learn everything from his absorbees instantly? "Naruto, you and I are up for guard duty first. Sasuke, Sakura, get some rest."

The minute they stepped out of the house, Naruto used Shunshin to get away fast. Kakashi gauged the speed in which he was moving and realized the blonde wanted him to follow. '… Do I trust him?' Would Naruto absorb him?

He chose to let a Kage Bunshin follow his student and followed after the Clone.

Coming at a clearing, the Shadow Clone found Naruto pouting. "You wound me, Kakashi. You don't trust me enough?"

The reply wasn't immediate. Kakashi was thinking too much on how Naruto could recognize him being a Shadow Clone. "Can you blame me? You have already taken three Konoha Shinobi… that I know of."

"That you know of, yes." Naruto's grin was too much like a cat and Kakashi didn't like it. "Don't worry, I won't absorb you. And if you need to know, Danzo came to MY house and started intimidating ME. I simply finished a battle he couldn't win." The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki turned serious here. "You need to understand something, Kakashi. I will explain."

Kakashi's Kage Bunshin turned very wary as Danzo, Iruka, Mizuki, Zabuza and Haku melted out of Naruto's body in less than two seconds. 'No limit, then. I thought two, because he summoned Iruka and Mizuki first during that fight with Zabuza.'

"You're a talented Shinobi, Kakashi." Danzo started as he sat on the ground. "Clever enough to know not to fight hopeless battles, I presume?"

"You're still alive." Kakashi breathed out.

"In a way I am, but in many I am not. I have a limited own will, but it is close to a complete free one, by my standards. There are only two things we cannot do." The aging warhawk sighed as he played with his cane a bit. "We cannot attack Uzumaki Naruto in any way and... we cannot disobey any order given by him. His is what keeps us… semi-alive."

"You didn't know you had a monster like him under you, Kakashi?" Zabuza seemed annoyed and Haku, next to him, sad. "I got turned into a fucking slave soldier."

Iruka stepped forward this time. "Kakashi-san? Naruto is a good boy, he won't harm Konoha. You can still trust him despite this horrid ability."

"How do I know he didn't order you to say that, Iruka-san?" Kakashi wasn't sure whether Naruto could mentally send orders around between these creations of his. Apparently summoning them wasn't tiring, because Naruto himself was simply standing amongst them with a grin on his face.

"You don't." This time it was Mizuki who answered. "But you need to know no one will be able to stop this kid. He knows everything… And by everything I mean..." Mizuki glared at the ground. "More than you and I will ever know."

"As of right now, Naruto is loyal to Konoha. Since I can only follow him, I wish for this to remain… Konoha hasn't treated the boy well…" Danzo's single eye was glaring at Kakashi. "It is in your best interest to make sure Naruto stays loyal to Konoha."

"I'm standing right here, Danzo…"

"My actions are mostly controlled by you, my speech it seems, isn't." Danzo shrugged to Naruto. "As long as you fight for Konoha, I don't necessarily mind this situation."

All of the absorbees vaporized like wisps of smoke back into Naruto with a simple thought. "I am getting really used to this ability of mine." His head suddenly twitched and Kakashi was instantly on guard. "Four Shinobi are approaching Tazunza's house."

He dropped his alert demeanor a bit since he had an idea on who it could be and used his nose. "Don't worry, it's a Konoha team."

"Interesting." The hair on the back of Kakashi's neck stood up as he watched Naruto narrow his eyes at him. "None of what I've learned so far told me your nose was this advanced. We are almost a mile away from the house and you smelled them so easy."

"What about you?" Kakashi countered. "You sensed this them this far ahead?"

The blonde grinned. "See? They are about a mile away from the house… in the opposite direction. We both learned from each other our radius of scent and sense is at least two miles. Quite a lot… For a nose. Allow me to enlighten you a bit, sensei. Among the team, there's a young Hyuga."

'His eyes…' Kakashi just now noticed that Naruto's eyes have turned a few shades lighter. Was it like that before? For how long? 'Did he absorb a Hyuga? And if so, is he able to use their ability, should it even be a Bloodline Limit, through those he has absorbed? Does that also mean he can use Danzo's Sharingan?' The Copy-nin rubbed his head in frustration. 'Too many questions.'

"I am a Shinobi of Konoha, sensei." He walked past the man and started back towards Tazuna's house. "Perhaps you shouldn't see me as a threat to my own Village."

"I don't know how your ability works… Perhaps you take over personalities too…" The Jounin followed after him. "Danzo, in many ways, was a threat to his own village."

"You have but rumors for that…" Naruto instantly countered. "We should hurry, the Konoha Jounin will surely see through the Kage Bunshin we left behind."

* * *

"Hoaaa! My eternal rival!"

Naruto's left eyebrow went up at the sudden scream from the Konoha Jounin. He and Kakashi made it back before the reinforcements got to the house. From all the memories inside of him, he could easily tell who the four new arrivals were. Courtesy of

The Jounin was Maito Gai, one of the few Elite Jounin Konoha held. In Danzo's Root ANBU, there were only few that could go toe to toe with this man. This was Konoha's Taijutsu Expert.

A carbon copy, much younger, stood next to him. This was to be Konoha's next Taijutsu Expert. Rock Lee, a promising Genin, even though he would never be able to perform either Ninjutsu or Genjutsu.

Then there was Hyuga Neji , supposedly a genius prodigy. Naruto couldn't wait to kick this boy's teeth through the back of his skull, just from the arrogance this boy was exuding. He hadn't absorbed a Hyuga, but according to Kurama the Byakugan was derived from the eyes he was sporting. Already he was learning new things with his eyes. Perhaps absorbing a Hyuga could help with this. Preferably one from the Main House.

The final member of Team Gai was Ten-Ten. One of the very few current Konoha Genin who was a bit talented in Fuuinjutsu. Her specialty though, lay in Weapons. All of them. Naruto grinned because, thanks to Zabuza, he was now immensely proficient with the sword that currently rested in Tazuna's house.

"Ah, Gai, did you just arrive?"

"This must be one of your promising young students!"

Naruto nodded his head enthusiastically and screamed back. "I am! I am the amazing Uzumaki Naruto!"

'Never heard of this kid.' Neji thought.

'Looks like he just picked up some clothes from the ground somewhere and put them on.' Was Ten-Ten's first thought.

Naruto had his entire attire changed the day after Sasuke had made a cruel comment about it. That was when Kakashi made them get to know one another a bit better. Naruto wore an oversized light grey long-sleeved t-shirt. His hands were hidden from view, but Kakashi had already spotted gauntlets underneath. Naruto's collarbone and even the upper part of his chest was in full view. His shorts reached till below his knees and was also oversized, colored dark grey. His sandals were black and seemed very worn out. The Hitai-ate from Konoha was lazily, but tightly, spun around the right sandal. It was very bent because of that and hardly noticeable.

"Yosh! My name is Rock Lee! May we both become Legendary Konoha Shinobi, Naruto-kun!"

Naruto gladly shook Lee's hand. "Yes, we will!"

"Your student will become very strong, Kakashi." Gai commented from the side. "How goes the mission?"

"Well…" Here the grey-haired veteran scratched the back of his head. "So far we've already dealt with Kiri's Demon Brothers, Momochi Zabuza and a Hunter-nin from Kiri." He was speaking as if it was no big deal, but Gai was a bit shocked.

"Your first C-Ranked Mission and you run into an A-Ranked Nuke-nin?"

Even Neji was shocked.

"Yeah, but Kakashi-sensei handled them all with ease." Naruto quickly explained with a thumbs up. "We didn't even have to do anything."

"Obviously." Neji sneered, at which Naruto simply pointed his thumbs up at him.

"Amazing! As expected of my eternal rival!"

"Maa, it was no big deal. Let's get inside and say hello to the rest of my team. Naruto, stay outside and keep guard."

A few minutes after they stepped inside, Naruto summoned Zabuza, Haku, Danzo and the five ROOT ANBU he had absorbed. "Kill Gato. Zabuza and Haku will lead the way. There shouldn't be any strong people left. Danzo, if possible, transfer all his money to your account." Even without his sword, Zabuza was still very powerful.

This will also let him know how far his Shinzui Bunshin could travel from him… If necessary, he will just join this hunt.

* * *

As Team Gai and Team Seven got ready for the trek back home, Neji couldn't help but notice the huge sword on Naruto's back. But it was Ten-Ten that asked about it.

"H-Hey! That's Kubikiri Houcho! It's one of the Legendary Swords, wielded by Momochi Zabuza, one of the Seven Swordsmin of the Mist! Wh-why are you carrying it!?" She couldn't contain her excitement one bit.

"Ah, well, Kakashi didn't need it and I'm the only one in our team that can fight with swords."

Sasuke twitched and Sakura's mouth dropped open. They didn't know Naruto could handle swords… Hell, they didn't even believe it!

"Ho? How about a spar, then? Your name was… Naruto, right?"

"I don't spar." Was Naruto's instant response. "It reveals my techniques."

"Clever." Sasuke and Sakura were surprised to see Kakashi appear next to the blonde. "But sparring is a necessary way of training. It helps you get ready for a opponent who could be similar to your sparring partner."

"Yeah, see, see? Let's spar, Naruto!"

Naruto simply ignored Ten-Ten. "I don't think it's wise to spar with this sword, sensei."

"Ho! How courageous! Young Naruto-kun is afraid he will hurt you, Ten-ten!" Gai was just as sneaky as Kakashi, suddenly appearing behind the until now silent Lee and Neji.

"Oh how truly wonderful! Naruto-kun is amazing!" Lee instantly joined.

Ten-Ten, however, wasn't as amused. "As if a Rookie Genin can hurt me!"

"Perhaps in Konoha, Ten-Ten. We should be on the move." Gai ordered.

Kakashi nodded the same to his team.

Neji regarded the blonde Naruto one last time, before considering him a weakling after all. The only one in Team Seven worth something was Uchiha Sasuke. Perhaps he would request a spar back in Konoha.

* * *

About a minute after he had dismissed his team from the Hokage's Office, a knock came to the door. Kakashi was just about to inform Hiruzen about Naruto's ability and about Danzo when…

When Danzo walked in, followed by Naruto…

"Hiruzen, I come with interesting news."

The Hokage started with a surprised snort. "Danzo! Where you have you been these past two weeks?"

"Actually, I was just about to say…" Kakashi tried to start, but Danzo stepped next to him and silenced him with a wave of his hand.

"I was busy killing Gato in Wave Country." Here Kakashi narrowed his eyes. "I felt it necessary because he was becoming a threat to the greater Nations."

"I thought I have forbidden you from taking such actions, Danzo…" The office was suddenly filled with a menacing presence. Hiruzen glared at Danzo, but seemed to suddenly notice Naruto. "… Why is Naruto here?"

He was surprised Danzo chuckled at the question. "He has absorbed me, Hiruzen. That's why I went missing."

Hiruzen's head snapped to Naruto quicker than any thought possible. "Tha-Wha… Naruto?"

"It's true." The blonde admitted. "The night after Kakashi failed me, Sakura and Sasuke, Danzo approached me. I managed to touch him."

"But…" Hiruzen blinked at the sudden information. "That means that people you absorb stay alive?"

Kakashi sighed to himself. It seemed everything he wanted to say would be said by either his student or Danzo.

"Yes, they stay alive in a way. You know what that means, right? It means I never killed Iruka-sensei or Mizuki! They're still alive!" Naruto started to explain. "But they cannot live for long as the only thing keeping them alive outside of my body is my Chakra. Quite similar to elemental Bunshin, actually. I've experimented a bit and it seems…" Naruto chose to lie in this instant, as both Kakashi and Hiruzen could become enemies. Who knows what the future held? "The limit is a mile. After a mile, they die like any normal person would."

"They are automatically returned to you?"

"I can choose to dispel them, which will make them return to me automatically, yes." He answered Hiruzen's question next. "But when they die, I can choose to absorb them back or just let them die. They're not returned automatically." Naruto's brains started working instantly here. 'Which means, if they, or any other opponent, fight me, they would probably kill my Shinzui Bunshin and prevent me from absorbing them again. So before they die, I should dispel them.' In truth though, the Shinzui Bunshin could move farther and they would be dispelled when moving too far, returning back to the summoner.

"What an ability, Naruto."

"I'm still getting used to it." He admitted. "Kakashi-sensei is kinda giving me a hard time because of this ability."

"That was understandable, though." To everyone's surprise, it was Danzo who reacted. "Kakashi was probably informed of my disappearance and learned on this mission that YOU were responsible for it. In clearer words, it means you attacked a fellow Shinobi IN Konoha."

"But that was self-defense!"

A lie, but no one needed to know that. Danzo inwardly grimaced, but went along with it. He didn't have a choice in the matter, anyway. Naruto's orders, to him, were absolute. "Indeed, I did attack him that night. But only to scare him. I never thought this would be the consequence of my action."

"So now you just follow Naruto around?" Hiruzen asked skeptically. "Why? How does this work?"

Danzo's expression hardened here. "I am dead, Hiruzen. The only way I still live is if he summons me… He can choose to dispel me any time he wishes."

"Then why don't you kill him, Danzo?" Hiruzen's expression was also hardened. Kakashi gulped nervously, while Naruto just seemed amused.

"It seems your hearing is failing you in your old age, Hiruzen. As mentioned before, the only thing keeping me semi-alive is his Chakra., If he dies, his Chakra will go with him. Which in turn means… I die, too." Danzo snorted. "I would do many things frowned upon in life, but suicide is not one of them."

"Perhaps you should inform Hokage-sama about your other… absorbees?"

The only Genin in the office raised an eyebrow in question at Kakashi. "You're gonna call them… absorbees?"

"What do you call them, then, Naruto?" The oldest in the office asked. Hiruzen was slightly older than Danzo.

"Shinzui Bunshin. Clone of Essence." Was the easy answer to Hiruzen. "But absorbees is possible too? Or insiders? Re-Humans? Second Chancers? The Undead, wait that's wrong, they're really dead so… The Unliving?"

"Enough. Tell me who you have absorbed so far."

"Fine." Instead of answering, Naruto summoned everyone, and easily too, Hiruzen noticed. "Introduce yourselves." The blonde ordered. They couldn't disobey.

"Toji Mizuki." The silver-haired Chuunin wasn't looking at the Fire Leader.

"Umino Iruka." The former teacher offered an apologetic look.

"Shimura Danzo." This surprised both Hiruzen and Kakashi, since Danzo was already present. But it seemed the order went to everyone. Interesting fact.

"Yamanaka Fuu." The Root ANBU removed his mask to reveal orange hair and blue eyes.

"Aburame Torune." The one with the acid bugs, Hiruzen recalled.

"Nara Hyo." The promising Nara orphan that vanished from the Academy years ago… Hiruzen should have known.

"Fuuma Yukio." A Purple-haired twenty-something year old woman. Her hair reached past her collarbone and her eyes were also purple. Hiruzen looked slightly surprised. Of course Danzo would recruit outside of Konoha. Knowing the old warhawk, he would recruit only the best, too. The Fuuma Clan was known for their talent with Chakra threads…

"Kedouin Akari." The fifth and final Root Agent. This woman had her long dark green hair tight in a ponytail reaching just above her butt. Her appearance could be a lie, though, as their ability to impersonate another was unrivalled.

"Yuki Haku." Hiruzen's eyes and Kakashi's eyes widened as the identity of the Kiri Hunter-nin was now revealed. To think Naruto could summon the last of the Yuki Clan…

"Momochi Zabuza." His name alone was enough for the people in the office to know who this was. The Devil of the Mist.

Naruto seemed a bit bored as he stood behind his army. "Hey, old man? Is this enough? I'm kind of on a tight schedule."

"Naruto. I order you to refrain from touching anyone in Konoha. I can tell you're not wearing the gloves I gave you under those long sleeves, care to tell me why you're wearing others?"

"Don't worry about it, I can control my ability. Besides, those gloves make me look suspicious! These make me look cool!" He pulled one of his sleeves up and revealed a dark grey gauntlet. "But it seems I wasn't original, those two Demon Brothers wore similar gauntlets…" he complained a bit.

Grabbing his smoke pipe and getting ready to smoke from it, Hiruzen shot the people in the office an exasperated look. "Can you dispel your army, Naruto? This office is kind of small."

"Huh? But, but you asked me to-"

Naruto got cut off. "I asked you to tell me, not show me."

Everyone disappeared, except for Danzo. "Hiruzen, I have things to discuss. I think you should dismiss Hatake Kakashi first."

Kakashi felt like he was out of his depth already, anyway…

* * *

"I have information on Orochimaru's whereabouts." As soon as Kakashi had left, Danzo started. "You're probably wondering why I'm going to share this information."

"Yes, I am. I always knew you were keeping things from me, don't take me for a fool. You should know I let you."

"I know you let me. You still feel a form of comradeship with me. Believe it or not, I feel the same."

Hiruzen's expression didn't change. "So? Why are you telling me this now?"

"I have many alliances across the nations, Hiruzen. Now that I am no longer alive, I can break all of them and betray them all. One such alliance I am quite eager to destroy. The alliance with Orochimaru."

Blowing some smoke out, Hiruzen glared at his rival. Naruto was seated in a one of the two chairs in front of the Hokage's desk, Danzo in the other. He was actually regarded as an equal now. "I can't say I'm surprised. Surely you joined hands with my wayward student to reach for the Hokage's Title?" He shook his head in disappointment. "Why you always slither towards your goals will always be the question."

"It is in the past now. We can both be rest assured. Now with this trump card, with Naruto's ability and him being the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, Konoha has jumped up in strength. I believe we should make a pre-emptive strike."

"Pre-emptive?"

"A war is coming, Hiruzen. I know for a fact that Orochimaru is meeting with the Kazekage in a few days."

"Why should I believe that?"

"A dead man has no reason to lie. Have you heard of Otogakure?"

"The Sound Village? I've heard a bit. Nothing good. Around the region many people have been reported missing. Many Shinobi."

"Exactly. Otogakure is Orochimaru's newly formed Village. I wish to bring it to the ground. He has many promising Shinobi I wish for young Naruto to absorb…"

"Everything he knows I know, old man." Naruto interjected. "He didn't really come up with this plan. I learned of a few interesting Shinobi with Bloodline Limits that currently reside within Oto. I wish for them to become mine."

"Your ability is changing you, Naruto. I don't know if that is necessarily a good thing. Care to tell me what Kekkai Genkai interest you?"

"He has a Kaguya, a Hozuki and a Shoton User, but that is all that Danzo knows… There are more, most likely. "

"Before we can do all that, however, I believe we should take care of one of my hidden soldiers first."

With hidden soldier, Danzo clearly meant a Root ANBU disguising as a normal Konoha Shinobi.

"And who would that be?"

"Yakushi Kabuto. He is actually working for Orochimaru, too. Perhaps absorbing him will tell us more." Danzo suggested.

"But he is a Konoha Shinobi currently. Won't he be missed?"

"He's a fake, Hiruzen. He has nobody tied to him in Konoha."

The Sandaime put his pipe down and considered the two in front of him. Scheming to take down an entire village. "You are sure a war is coming?"

Danzo and Naruto both didn't want to tell too much. "Yes, a war is definitely coming. I don't know why he has requested a meeting with the Kazekage, but I know Orochimaru was sending two Oto teams to participate in the coming Chuunin Exams. He would instigate a war during these exams. That is all I know." The veteran sighed. "Regrettably, I would help him. I apologize, Hiruzen, but I agreed to let him and his army enter Konoha unnoticed."

"What was your price?"

The Killing Intent from the Third didn't come unexpected. Danzo didn't really care much for it since he was already dead. They needed to be careful here since they needed the Third's trust. Danzo stood from his chair and unraveled the bandages around his right shoulder. "Orochimaru's experiments… He wasn't doing them alone. I was in on it, through Root. In fact, Orochimaru was one of my ROOT ANBU."

The killing intent grew and Naruto had to clench his fists to stay unaffected.

When the old Sarutobi saw Danzo's shoulder, it intensified. "You dared! Such sacrilege! The Shodaime's blood!"

"Yes. Senju Hashirama's Blood. I need his help to control it. He was the one experimenting, but you found out about it before we reached a conclusion. He never finished this particular experiment. I cannot control this power."

"Old man… Please don't attack Danzo?"

Hiruzen coldly ignored Naruto. "That's why you still need Orochimaru?"

Although he didn't need the snake anymore, thanks to Naruto's ability… "Yes." He still lied.

"What is your plan, then? Or should I ask Naruto?"

"Yes, you should ask me." With a flick of his fingers, Danzo was gone… absorbed back into Naruto to Hiruzen's amazement. "I have all of his abilities, old man. All of his and all of theirs… combined, not averaged. Accumulated. "

"That's impossible, you can't control that much Chakra."

"No, I can't. Not alone." Here, Naruto grinned. "But I'm not alone…"

The Sandaime narrowed his eyes. "The ones you absorb help you control it inside of you?"

"No, the Kyuubi helps me."

"You can't trust it, Naruto. This ability of yours is frightening enough."

"Old man… Don't worry, I still want to become Hokage and protect Konoha until I die." The blonde put a finger to his chin. "Danzo wanted to go to Otogakure immediately, but I think that's a mistake. He agrees with me now, I'm sure. We can't let Orochimaru know we already know of his plans. Yakushi Kabuto is set to participate in the coming Chuunin Exams as well. I'll absorb that traitor during the Exams, Hokage-sama."

"And why then?"

"If I do it now, Orochimaru will surely grow suspicious."

"Naruto…" Hiruzen rose from his chair. "Tell me, what have you learned from and of your ability so far?"

A nervous chuckle was the first answer. "Well, according to the Kyuubi, this ability is ancient and said to have died off long ago. He said the Sage of The Six Paths killed the last user of this ability personally."

"The Sage of the Six Paths? The first Chakra-wielding man?"

"Yes. Apparently, this ability was wielded once before, and only once. By the brother of the Sage…"

* * *

"**What an eventful day."**

"Tell me about it…"

Inside of Naruto's mindscape.

"**Hamura's eyes… They are still somewhat alive today, in the eyes of the Hyuga."** Kurama started. **"They look similar, I have observed, but they are far weaker. Hamura could do things with his eyes the Hyuga need extra techniques for. The Byakugan is a weaker version of what Hamura carried."**

"I have already noticed a few things, Kurama." Naruto grinned. "When I want to see something farther ahead in clearer view, my view automatically zooms in on what I want to see, being able to even see through trees and stuff."

"**Yes, like the Byakugan, your eyes can see through objects. It means you can also see inside human bodies. I believe you should focus on that specifically. Hamura could let the insides of men explode just by looking at them… but at the cost of temporary blindness. The Hyuga seem to have developed the Jyuuken to copy this element of the Doujutsu. The Hyuga can't do anything with just a glance, they need the Chakra gathered in a specific way in their fingers to do damage inside a body. I believe you don't need this Gentle Fist Style…"**

"I'll experiment with my Shinzui Bunshin. Let's see what these eyes can do…"

* * *

Sasuke was doing some standard Taijutsu practice when Naruto approached the training grounds Team Seven often frequented. Kakashi and Sakura hadn't arrived yet. "You're early, dead-last. Couldn't carry the sword with you?"

He left Zabuza's sword in a scroll in one of his pockets. If he ever summoned Zabuza, he would summon the sword as well. "I left it somewhere safe."

Sasuke went back to his kata, intent on ignoring his useless teammate.

The young Uchiha was frustrated. So far, their missions hadn't given him any increase in strength. Their latest mission could have, if Kakashi hadn't done all the work. Really, what's the point if the Jounin was going to do everything? He hadn't even activated his Sharingan yet!

That Hyuga boy from the other team requested a spar, but Sasuke already knew the outcome of that spar. Neji would wipe the floor with him. He didn't like losing so he told the older boy he wasn't in the mood to fight weaklings. First, the Sharingan, then he would beat everyone into submission.

Then, he would kill Itachi.

"Ne, Sasuke?"

"I'm busy, dead-last."

"But you're doing it wrong."

He dares?!

Instead of bothering to reply, Sasuke dashed towards Naruto and got ready to plant a heavy elbow in the blonde's face. "I'll show you wron-omffff!"

Naruto instead planted his fist in the Uchiha's stomach and followed up by grabbing Sasuke by the collar calmly. "See? You would be able to dodge this fist otherwise?"

He couldn't dodge Naruto's fist in his face and was sent careening to the ground in immense pain. Naruto didn't hold back in strength. "I'm done holding back, Sasuke. And I'm done hearing you call me dead-last. I thought we went over that already?"

"Maa, maa, was that necessary, Naruto?"

Turning around, Naruto nodded his head in certainty. He had sensed Kakashi and Sakura approaching them seconds ago. "It was. He needs to activate his Sharingan. I'll kick it into his eyes. I request a spar, Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke managed to rise from the ground and spat out blood to his right. Naruto simply grinned at the Uchiha's sneer.

Kakashi seemed hesitant, but understood Naruto's logic. He would allow this spar if Sasuke accepted.

Sakura hadn't seen what happened but was confused. Naruto wanted to spar with Sasuke… He was about to get his ass kicked and he was smiling about it?

"You're on…" Sasuke readied himself. "Dead-last." He spat out in contempt.

Naruto's look hardened considerably. "Hoo… You've done it now."

* * *

TBC

Yup. OPness… It's what I write, after all.

Again, this chapter was probably terribly rushed. This fic won't be superlong either, since Naruto is heading a certain way.

Currently, I am working on a few fics of mine, but this one and Aerial Perspective are on the top of the list. The next chapters of Melancholy's Smile and Blood Of The Assassin are about halfway done, but they've been that way about a year or two already… All of my other fics are pretty much abandoned… I think I'll clean up my profile soon.

So, some information:

Naruto has absorbed Danzo and five of his higher-ranked Root ANBU, Momochi Zabuza and Yuki Haku. He cannot wield their Bloodline Limits or unique abilities, like the Shintenshin, the Kage Mane or Kikaichuu Techniques. But the absorbed ones, when summoned CAN. This means Danzo can use his Sharingan and Mokuton, Haku can use his Hyouton, The Yamanaka Shintenshin and so on and so on…

His eyes are superior to the Byakugan. The Byakugan was derived from these eyes, after all. A name of this Doujutsu and its abilities will be revealed in the next chapter. It won't add much to his already OPness.

He has accumulated Knowledge, Chakra and Power from all those absorbed. That's how this ability works. When you think about it, it's a bit similar to Kakuzu's Heart-stealing thing. This means he can perform all the Jutsu they know, except for those that require their specific blood and Chakra, even though he has absorbed both of those. He CANNOT perform Kekkai Genkai Ninjutsu.

Now, I thank you for reading.


	4. Progress

Naruto Fanfiction

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Author's Note: Seems I made a few mistakes in the previous chapter; Haku is a male, just like in canon. And Danzo was indeed not Hiruzen's old teammate, but his friend and rival. Also, someone stated I typed Hamura's name wrong? It's Ootsutsuki Hamura, right? Some say it's written with only one 'O', but I think it's two…? The Sage of the Six paths is named Ootsutsuki Hagoromo. Also, the way I see things with Minato and Kushina: Minato didn't appear until Naruto went eight to nine-tailed Chakra Mode and tried to peel the seal off, whereas Kushina only appeared when Naruto was in dire straits against the Kyuubi.

* * *

The Black Apple

Chapter 3: Progress

* * *

He was still shaking off the pain from the previous blows. Since when could the dead-last hit so hard? He shouldn't have underestimated him. If he hadn't, those blows would have never connected. It was time to kick this loser's ass. Time to show Kakashi that he was done wasting time doing these useless chores, these D-Ranked missions.

"You're on, dead-last."

He watched in satisfaction as frustration glowed on Naruto's face.

"Hoo… You've done it now." The blonde turned to Kakashi. "It's on, then."

"You're going to pay for those two hits, loser." Sasuke started as he bent his knees a bit. "I'm going to show you just why you're the dead-last and I'm top of the class."

"Hey, Sakura-chan?" Sasuke twitched a bit as Naruto ignored him and waved for Sakura's attention. "Who do you think's going to win between me and Sasuke?"

"W-what!? What kind of dumb question is that?! Sasuke-kun of course! You were the worst student in our class, he was the best!" Kakashi wasn't too sure if this was a good idea as Naruto's grin seemed to radiate pure evil.

"Exactly… WERE and WAS…" Naruto agreed. "How about…" Without any warning a Shadow Clone sprang into life next to Naruto. Kakashi saw the quick handseals, but Sakura and Sasuke didn't. "The Dead-last's Kage Bunshin beats the shit out of Sasuke…"

"That's it!" Sasuke's patience ran out after that, he couldn't wait and dashed forward in impressive speed, intent on teaching his teammate a lesson. Only to get his movement forcefully stopped.

"You're pretty fast." The grip was so tight. The grip on his neck was too tight; he could only try and stop Naruto from choking him any further as he tried to pry Naruto's left hand away from his neck with both his hands. "I'm just a Kage Bunshin, but even I can kill you easily now." Calmly, he lifted his left arm up and started performing one-handed seals. Sasuke's struggles were not loosening his grip one bit.

"S-Sasuke-kun!" Sakura's eyes were widened at the sight of Naruto's Kage Bunshin holding Sasuke by the throat.

The real Naruto slowly walked over to Kakashi and Sakura. "Can you believe it? He can't even beat one of my Shadow Clones!"

'One-handed seals? How did he learn those? From Danzo?' Kakashi couldn't believe it when he saw Naruto's fingers get surrounded by Water. Small Water Blades… 'Water Affinity?'

"Naruto! Let him go!" Sakura yelled as she glared at both Narutos.

"What are you talking about, Sakura-chan? You said he would beat me, right? Have some confidence in him!" He chuckled softly. "Or perhaps, do you think Sasuke can't beat me, after all?"

The Kage Bunshin flicked Sasuke in the right cheek with his Chakra enhanced fingers, creating three bleeding whisker marks… "Hey, boss! He kinda looks like us now!"

"Naruto! You've won, let him go!" Kakashi started as he took a step forward.

"Ne, Kakashi-sensei?" The real Naruto was still smiling. "Did you also believe Sasuke would beat me? The other way around, would you have stopped Sasuke?" He nodded upwards at his Shadow Clone.

"Urghh!" Sasuke was rapidly losing consciousness.

Right then, the Shadow Clone dropped him to the ground and glared at the struggling Uchiha. "Having trouble breathing?"

"Hahahaha! " Both Naruto and the real Naruto started laughing. "You see that? The top of the class can't even defeat the worst student's clone! The Clone! THE! CLONE!"

Wiping the blood from his right cheek, Sasuke managed to lift himself up a bit as he supported himself on his knees. After a few seconds of catching his breath, he glared up at Naruto and decided. "Fine… You're stronger than I thought, Naruto. I'll take you seriously now. I don't want to fight your clone, or are you scared to deal with me yourself?"

The laughter coming from Naruto and his clone had slowly been dying down, but when Sasuke uttered those words there was a slight pause and then… the laughter returned tenfold.

But then the laughing abruptly stopped, the Kage Bunshin vanished and Killing Intent unlike any even Kakashi had ever felt filled the clearing. Sasuke was frozen on the spot due to the Killing Intent when the real Naruto suddenly appeared right before him.

"Hey, Sasuke…"

The first punch hurt more than anything he had ever felt. It felt like he lost his entire nose in one clean hit. But Naruto didn't stop there and hit him again, right between the eyes. Sasuke's sight vanished for a few seconds but returned instantly when the third blow, a kick this time, plowed straight through his stomach.

"S-Stop! You're hurting him!" Sakura was sobbing.

Kicking him in the side one more time, Naruto stopped to throw Sakura a gaze of incredulity. "Whatever could you be talking about? A dead-last like me could never hurt a genius like Sasuke…" A grin popped up on his face out of nowhere. "Right?"

She dropped to her knees as Naruto grabbed Sasuke by the collar and hit him in the right eye hard. "Hey. Hey? Hey! Hey!" Another blow. And another blow.

Kakashi was clenching his fists… He didn't know what to do. Just when he was about to step in, Naruto stopped peppering the Uchiha with blows, but he still held him by his collar.

"Call me a dead-last one more time…" He held his fist in front of the Uchiha's face, whose right eye was now swollen shut. Sighing, he dropped the Uchiha to the ground. "This is what I mean, you know?"

Turning away from Sasuke, he started walking back towards Sakura and Kakashi again. "See, Sakura-chan? You were wrong. You were SO wrong! DEAD WRONG! Not only was he NOT able to beat ME… He was not ABLE to beat EVEN a CLONE of me! So there, you have the true answer to my question…"

The pink-haired girl didn't respond as she was a sobbing mess.

He turned to Kakashi. "Thank you for not interfering, sensei. Could you heal him? I think he won't underestimate me from now on. I want to spar with him again."

"You hurt him pretty badly, Naruto. I can perform only basic Iryou Ninjutsu." Kakashi took a quick glance to the fallen Uchiha, who was struggling to even crawl. "Maybe we should take him to the hospital."

Memories and skills from Haku gave him a better understanding in Medic Ninjutsu than Kakashi, so he merely grinned at the older nin. The injuries Sasuke had picked up in the little spar, if one could call it that, were still quite minimal. Kakashi just didn't want them fighting anymore. "That's fine, I know Iryou Ninjutsu too."

'Why doesn't that surprise me?' Kakashi glowered a bit.

"Reign in a bit of your Killer Intent, sensei. I am kind of sensitive to it." Before he moved for Sasuke, he turned to Sakura once more. "Before I heal that bastard… Let me ask the question again, Sakura-chan. Who do you think will win between me and Sasuke?"

Sakura glared at him and refused to answer. Her blonde teammate merely sent her a meaningful glance back.

"I want to be Hokage, sensei. The leader of Konoha. I don't want to be a leader of a Village filled with weak Shinobi." He moved for Sasuke. "The sooner he gets his Sharingan, the better. I'm going to help Sasuke get really strong."

Despite being in pain, Sasuke heard all the words as Naruto was approaching him. He heard his teammate's footsteps stop next to him and suddenly felt Chakra on him. Was Naruto healing him?

"Sasuke… Let's try that again."

* * *

Every feint he performed, excellently he might add, was dealt with with a shrug and a casual evasion here and there. Every well thought out strategy, every well planned attack… they were all useless. It was as if Naruto knew exactly what he was thinking. They had been sparring for almost ten minutes now and he could already feel his muscles screaming at him to stop.

But no, that was unacceptable. He hadn't even landed a single blow on his teammate! The dead-last was… He was just too good!

Every kick or punch, every Shuriken and Kunai… even his Goukakyuu no Jutsu he had unleashed in perfect manner…

Nothing even came close to touching him!

As he was panting and analyzing the blonde's movements, he started realizing something…

Naruto was better than him… in everything!

But he also realized that he liked this. He was finally facing someone who pushed him to his limits.

He didn't expect Naruto to be this good of a teammate. Now he had a goal! To surpass Naruto and then Kakashi! If he could beat Naruto that would be proof he was getting stronger. Of course not strong enough to beat Itachi, but it was at least a way up.

A grin slowly formed on his face as he regarded Naruto with respect, and the blonde noticed.

"Heh, you're finally enjoying yourself, Sasuke?"

The Uchiha nodded once and got ready again. "You deserved it. I won't call you dead-last ever again."

"Finally!" Naruto yelled out to the skies. "Now let's see about activating Sharingan of yours… I'm gonna fight back now…"

The young avenger sighed and knew this was going to happen. For the last few minutes, all Naruto did was dodge his attacks. All just to show him he was THAT good. He was dreading but waiting for this moment at the same time. It is said the Uchiha mostly activate their Sharingan in dire situations.

As Naruto's fist sent him skywards, he couldn't help but hope…

* * *

Sakura stared in disbelief at the sparring in front of her.

Forever she had known Uchiha Sasuke to be the strongest Shinobi to walk the lands! But now…

But now, watching Naruto pick his nose as he was easily dancing around all of Sasuke's attacks… Watching Naruto close his eyes and STILL evade all of Sasuke's attacks. Watching Naruto yawn and jump around Sasuke without even attacking back.

And then, watching Naruto kick Sasuke in the neck, punch him in the back of his head, grab him and throw him all over the place…

She now knew… Sasuke is NOT the strongest Shinobi in the world.

Naruto was stronger, WAY stronger.

Of course, Kakashi and all other higher-ranked Shinobi were stronger too, but Sakura didn't pay any attention to that simple fact.

No, because Naruto was the dead-last. The weakest and stupidest in class.

And yet here he was, wiping the floor with the Uchiha prodigy with amazing ease.

It was unbelievable.

* * *

This wouldn't have been possible at all without all of his absorbees. Thanks to their muscle memory, their experiences, their skills and Jutsu… He could see through every amateur move Sasuke was pulling off. It was all just too easy.

Zabuza's speed was incredible, Danzo's even more so. Haku's speed was even faster if he used that mirror technique of his. Even Danzo's robot soldiers were fast!

Thanks to all of them, Naruto was also very fast.

As he landed another blow, this time a kick to Sasuke's left ear, he realized he was getting bored. He had to admit that the Uchiha was persistent. But then, Naruto was holding back a lot. After seeing Kakashi almost take action before, he decided not to pummel his teammate too much. He didn't want to be on Kakashi's bad side.

"Ne, Sasuke? I think you should take a break. You've got some serious injuries." The blonde suddenly stated seriously after he saw how Sasuke wasn't getting up as fast as before. "Forcing your body through too much pain is never good."

"He's right, Sasuke. I think this was a good spar." Kakashi eyed his blonde subordinate with a deadpan look. "Better than the one before." The Jounin turned his head a bit to give the remaining member of team 7 attention. "What about you, Sakura? Want to spar against Naruto?"

"N-no, thanks." After seeing how easily Naruto had beaten Sasuke to the ground, she actually feared the blonde now.

"Hmm. Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Sakura was confused. "What about tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow you will spar with Naruto. You can prepare for it." Kakashi then turned away from the pink-haired girl and crouched where Sasuke was on the ground. "I'll accompany Sasuke to his home. You guys are dismissed." With a Shunshin, Kakashi and Sasuke disappeared, leaving Sakura and Naruto alone.

"Ne, Sakura?"

She flinched at his sudden voice. She had still been staring at the spot where Kakashi and Sasuke were just moments before. "W-what is it, Naruto?"

"I'm sorry."

She flinched again, though this time for a different reason, as Naruto suddenly bowed.

"It's just… Everyone always calls me a dead-last, a loser… an idiot. I was tired of it. It really gets to me, you know? This was a good chance for me to show you and Sasuke that my marks in the academy were inaccurate. The teachers really hated me, so they failed me in every subject, on purpose." A sigh came as a pause. "Well, of course I also felt that Sasuke deserved that ass-kicking, but that's really beside the point."

"You've… you've always been that strong?"

"Of course not." Came the immediate answer. "I started training. I never liked the names everyone threw at me, so… I made it my goal to prove everyone wrong! You guys are the first to witness this!"

"W-well…" Sakura fidgeted a bit uncomfortably as she played a bit with her short dress. "I'm sorry for calling you those names. It won't happen again."

"Thanks!" Naruto beamed at her and Sakura suddenly saw the old cheerful Naruto again. "I promise I'll be a good teammate to you and Sasuke! I also promise I'll go easy on Sasuke from now on! I just needed to let him know where he stands and where I stand, you know?"

"A-ah." What else could she do but nod at that?

"Tomorrow. Tomorrow we'll spar. And don't worry, I won't fight against you like I did Sasuke. After the spar, or even after we're dismissed tomorrow… How about we train some more? I mean, Sasuke too, of course."

Sakura blinked a few times as she considered this new Naruto, who seemed to ooze confidence. "Yeah… maybe?"

* * *

"How are you so sure he is in Sunagakure? What if he isn't? Even if you are with him, Naruto is still only a Genin."

"You underestimate Naruto greatly, Hiruzen. Even if I die and he is unable to absorb me back, he will still remember all of my techniques, my skills and my experience. Knowledge like that is not easily forgotten." Danzo chuckled shortly at the Fire Leader. Truth was, once absorbed you learn everything Naruto knows as well. The knowledge transfers both ways. Danzo knew exactly what kind of ability Naruto had and where it came from. "This is the perfect time. Only a Shinobi of Orochimaru's caliber could be a problem, but since he's not there… " The obvious need not be stated. "Also, My ROOT ANBU are coming along. I know you don't trust me, but I am just a puppet here."

"He's right. If I hadn't absorbed Danzo, your old friend would have done nothing to stop Orochimaru. I would know, I have his memories." The blonde tapped the side of his head. "His plans were to let his ANBU Root ambush many of the Konoha ANBU from the shadows, so Orochimaru would have an easier time. This won't happen now." Naruto actually glared at the old warhawk. "I fight for Konoha and I will destroy everyone who wants it gone."

The man now turned puppet nodded his head in respect. "I had my reasons, Hiruzen. I could apologize for my future actions, but that's absurd. It hasn't happened and it won't. And the reason I had was you'd led Konoha astray. Now that it doesn't matter anymore, I think you should know my motives. Konoha has grown weak. Other Countries will take advantage of it. I will not see the great Tree of the Fire Country wither. And now…" He looked at Naruto here. "It won't. Naruto has great plans and I support them completely."

The Third frowned at Danzo. "Konoha hasn't grown weak, Danzo. You just want war and supremacy, to let all other Shinobi Villages know Konoha is the strongest. It's not about being the strongest anymore. We live in an era where we can all prosper together."

"Always with the naïve talk. You and I will never come to terms with this. The Shinobi world is a world filled with backstabbers and opportunists. Stop being the idealist, Hiruzen."

"What say you, Naruto?"

The blonde in question shrugged at both old men. It was weird, but their banter almost seemed friendly. "I don't know. I don't really care either. All I want is to be Hokage. No… All I want is to be Hokage of the most powerful Village. We don't need to go to war with other villages for that. Konoha's Shinobi will just be the strongest. They need to be. I don't want to lead a weak village. I want to lead the best."

"Tch. How can you know you're the strongest without knowing how strong the other villages are? Besides that, being the strongest will come with problems. Other villages will be intimidated, their leaders not pleased. You see now how it's impossible to avoid conflict. War is inevitable, because just like you, Naruto…" Danzo grinned at the Jinchuuriki. "The Raikage wants his village to be the strongest too. So does the Mizukage, Kazekage and the Tsuchikage. Kumogakure especially, seems to be readying themselves for war as the Raikage is pushing his Shinobi extremely. Your dream is not unique, it's basic. You can't only want to be the strongest, you need more."

Naruto chuckled shortly at Danzo. "I don't care what the other leaders want, Danzo. I know what I want and that's all that matters."

"You're missing the point. Conflict is unavoidable, because of the simple matter called… clients. All villages need money and it comes from missions. All missions come from clients. Clients will go to the best, or strongest available. If you're the strongest, the other villages will fall because they won't be getting any missions. They WANT missions however… I assume you see how that plays out?"

"I don't care." Naruto shrugged. "As long as Konoha remains standing."

And then Danzo turned to Hiruzen and grinned. "We might differ in certain opinions and we might walk different roads, but the end goal Naruto and I share is the same. As long as Konoha stands strong…" He nodded to the Fire Leader, hoping that explained all of his behavior. "That's all I want."

Hiruzen had his eyes narrowed at Naruto however. "This is all just talk. Suppose you are suitable to become the Fire Leader, you're decades away from becoming Hokage. You're still young, pure and naïve… Your views change as you go through life. You know nothing yet, Naruto…"

"On the contrary, Hiruzen…" Danzo countered as he also turned to focus on Naruto. "He knows everything I know… You could even say he saw you, like I have, turning from the young Genin you were into one of the strongest Shinobi, the Professor, in the world now. That's how you should view this ability of his. It was like he was right there next to us."

* * *

Really, why did she have to take him to the weapon shop? Just because her family owned the store didn't mean her entire team could take advantage of discount or anything. Didn't they know her father was a no-nonsense man? Gai-sensei doesn't understand anything. She herself didn't even get discount from her father!

She didn't mind any of her teammates, as long as they weren't around her too much off-duty. Normally they weren't, especially Neji. But today Gai-sensei insisted she take Lee to the shop for some new wrist weights and ankle weights. Ten-Ten was persuaded because Gai-sensei said he'd buy her sets of explosive tags. Four at least, she had demanded.

"Weights! Weights! Weights!"

That had been going on for about ten minutes now. Ten-Ten shot an exasperated glare over her shoulder as Lee was following her to the store. If him screaming 'WEIGHTS!' wasn't enough of an attention grabber, him walking backwards on his hands definitely was.

How annoying.

She was tempted to throw a Kunai in one of his wrists just to make him fail his own stupid bet.

If he couldn't follow Ten-Ten walking backwards on the palms of his hands without letting the five small pebbles on each sole of his feet fall, he would carry Ten-Ten on the soles of his feet next while making the same trip twice.

Like she would let him.

From the corner of her eye she saw the blonde kid from Kakashi's team suddenly stroll into the street they were walking in. "Hey! You're the kid with the huge sword!"

Not feeling perverted, Naruto decided to shrug at the girl. She was yelling at him, they were quite a distance from each other. Ten-Ten, which in turn meant Lee as well, had stopped walking as Naruto made his way over to them.

"Where's the girl of your team?"

Turning red in fury, she pointed a finger at the blonde. "I'm the girl of the team, you moron!"

Waving his hands in a calming gesture, Naruto grinned at her. "Of course, of course! I mean the guy who looks like a girl."

"He doesn't look like a girl!"

"You mean Neji?"

"You guys… are Ten-Ten and Rock Lee, right?"

"Yeah?" She was embarrassed now, because she totally forgot this kid's name. It looked like he didn't notice. "So, how's the sword doing?"

"Oh, you mean the Kubikiri Houchou? Well, it's not in top shape at the moment, because it needs more blood to repair itself."

Ten-Ten blinked. What a weird way of saying he needed to train more with it. "Well, I'm not bad with swords, how about we have a spar now?" She remembered him having turn down the offer before in Wave.

The younger Genin shook his head resolutely. "No. The Chuunin Exams is soon and I don't to reveal my tricks. You're participating too, right?"

"Yeah, we're also- Wait! You're in them too?! You're just a rookie!"

"How incredible! You must be amazingly talented!" Rock Lee was still not facing them and was still standing on his hands.

Naruto didn't quite know how to deal with the weird boy so he kept facing Ten-Ten. "Well, our team is also in it, despite us being rookies, yeah. I've heard your other teammate was also Rookie of the Year, like Sasuke was."

"Neji is the strongest Genin in Konoha!" Lee responded again. "But I will defeat him one day and prove that a genius of hard work can beat any other genius!"

"Sure." Naruto responded, still facing Ten-Ten.

Ten-Ten understood. "Lee and I are a close second, though. You don't know what Kakashi-san has thrown you into."

The grin he gave her was actually intimidating, Ten-Ten felt. "Oh I do. Best of luck to you Ten-Ten-san and Lee-san. May we meet each other in the exams."

"We don't need the luck, kid!" Ten-Ten yelled after the departing blonde.

"My name's Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto!" He threw a knowing smile over his shoulder in her direction. "Try to remember it this time!"

* * *

"Yo, Kakashi-sensei."

The old veteran sighed to himself as he was crouching on a tree branch reading his Icha Icha. His subordinates weren't supposed to show up for another five minutes and he HIMSELF wasn't supposed to show up for another two hours. He forgot one of his students was a very talented Sensor-nin though.

Naruto used a quick Shunshin to appear on a tree branch close to the one Kakashi was crouching on. "I want to summon Haku to train Sakura a bit. Do I have your permission, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Haku's from the Yuki Clan, right? The Hunter-nin that was with Zabuza?"

"Yeah… Sakura has a very high Chakra Control and I think she could really benefit from learning some basic Iryou Ninjutsu. Haku knows plenty of those!"

Closing his book and scratching his chin, Kakashi considered the possibility. "Well, my knowledge in Iryou Ninjutsu is very limited and from what I understand you already know Haku's is more advanced than mine, right?" Kakashi didn't need an answer, he was good in analyzing. "You have complete control over them, right?"

"Yeah."

"Both Sasuke and Sakura don't know your special skills yet and both of them haven't seen Haku before. How are you going to explain that?"

"… I'll just tell them the truth? The Chuunin Exams are coming up soon and I don't want them surprised when I summon some awesome friends to help me out."

"Somehow I don't think they consider you as a friend, Naruto."

"What? Why not?"

"You killed them? You're using them as tools?"

"I think you're exaggerating, sensei."

Kakashi didn't know whether Naruto was joking or not. "I think it's best, however, that you keep your skill a secret. The best secret, after all, is the one never spilled. You can simply summon Haku now and I'll supposedly bring him along. Young Genin talk even when they're not supposed to. I'm fairly certain Sakura will talk about your and Sasuke's skills to other people. I'm not worried about Sasuke, because he doesn't talk to other people."

"That sounds about right." Naruto nodded his agreement. "Very well." Smoothly, Haku walked out of Naruto's body and took in his surroundings.

"It still surprises me." Haku started as he stared at both Naruto and Kakashi. "You killed me, yet I still live. I can see, hear, smell, feel… and probably taste as well." He then turned to Kakashi. "You shouldn't worry, Kakashi-san. I cannot disobey Naruto's command, as I am now a mere extension of his existence."

"It's actually very similar to the Kage Bunshin, sensei." Naruto butted in. "Except for the fact that they don't dispel after a single strike."

"I can honestly say that this ability of yours will make you a force of nature, Naruto." The Jounin was still eyeing Haku warily. Why did this boy look like a girl so much?

"I will fight for Konoha, sensei. I will also always be your subordinate. The same way my Shinzui Bunshin listen to my commands, I will listen to yours, I promise."

The Copycat snorted in amusement. "You're starting to become a real danger already, Naruto."

"Sasuke and Sakura are both on their way here." The blonde informed Kakashi. "You still don't want to be on time?"

"Let me talk with Haku about the training while you go and entertain your teammates, Naruto."

"You do know Haku's a guy, right?"

It was the first time he actually saw Kakashi glare so he quickly jumped out of the tree. "Whoa~~."

* * *

"That's impossible."

Her voice was dead serious.

She would feel the exact same way though, if she hadn't seen it with her own eyes herself.

This time the training was real pleasant, as Kakashi-sensei had brought a very female-looking young man with him to train her in Medic Ninjutsu. Her spar with Naruto was postponed because of him. She was still kind of tired though and ran into Team Ten on her way back home. Shikamaru said he was tired and went home and Chouji said dinner was waiting for him so this left Ino and Sakura alone.

The blonde girl from Team Ten had started angrily about how Sakura probably wanted to boast about being on Sasuke's team, which was kind of correct. But less so, since she had seen Sasuke being taken down a peg… by the dead-last.

She was telling this to Ino, but of course the blonde wouldn't believe her.

"Did you hit your head, Forehead? Must have been one huge stone!"

"Shut up, Ino-pig! I'm telling you, Naruto's gotten way stronger since the academy!"

The pink-haired Genin received a look of disbelief in return. "Please Sakura, the day the dead-last beats Sasuke-kun is the day I will worship that blonde dunce."

Sakura shook her head at friend slash rival. "Be careful what you wish for, Ino, I'm being serious!"

"Whatever, Sakura."

* * *

Kakashi was observing his team training the water-walking exercise. Naruto had shown them that he already knew it and had mentioned to him on the side that he didn't feel like hiding too many of his skills.

Said blonde was instead meditating in silence on the side of the pond, while Sasuke and Sakura were standing on the water, or struggling on the water. Sakura because her Chakra was slowly running out and Sasuke because his Chakra Control was not as good yet.

As he looked at the blonde Genin of his team, he didn't know what to think of him. Of course, he was the son of Minato and he felt somewhat responsible for him because of that, but… Naruto had also, in a way, killed Iruka, Mizuki, Zabuza, Haku, Danzo and some of Danzo's soldiers. It was weird, but Naruto was kind of… frightening him.

The blonde could probably dispatch him just by calling on Danzo alone… The thought that a Genin could do this to a Jounin was…

Kakashi was wary to say the least.

But Naruto was still Naruto. This skill wouldn't change him. He could see through masks quite easily, as he was a master of seeing underneath the underneath. But wasn't Naruto the same in this regard? The young boy wore a mask of happiness throughout his entire childhood. And now with so many different personalities sealed inside of him, would they become masks for him to also wear?

Would he have too many masks to realize he's wearing a mask and forget there's a little boy underneath?

Kakashi hoped not. This simply meant one thing.

Keep an eye on him, stay close to him and try to get a better read on him.

He didn't need Hokage-sama's order for that. He felt like doing it for Naruto's father.

* * *

"The way I understand it, you've accumulated quite some dangerous fighting types and skills. Above that, you say your Chakra is also accumulated, not averaged."

"It's true. And it's impossible to wield it all at once, so Kyuubi's keeping most of the amounts with him. Unlike me, a Bijuu can control such a massive amount."

"Please enlighten me on how you and the Kyuubi seem to be working so well together."

Naruto and the Third Hokage were walking through a hidden tunnel underneath the Hokage Tower. They were heading for an area that the Third often frequented to train.

"Well… Apparently this skill I've inherited comes from the Ootsutsuki Clan. I told you about it before, right? The Sage of the Six Paths was called Ootsutsuki Hagoromo. Here's the interesting part: The Kyuubi regards the Sage as his father. Hagoromo actually freed all of the Bijuu as they were stuck inside of the Ten-Tails."

"The Kyuubi told you this? Why should I believe it and why are you so easily believing it?"

"I've seen the past, old man. The Kyuubi has shown me. Whether are not those images were real or not is of course still the same question, but… I trust Kurama."

"Kurama?"

"The Kyuubi just means Nine-Tails. He has a name, it's Kurama."

"… Go on with your story."

"Well, in the past, all the Bijuu and the Sage of the Six Paths had to fight many enemies. Their biggest enemy was their mother, who wanted to rule the world through a permanent illusion. She was beaten by Hagoromo and his brother: Ootsutsuki Hamura. Hamura's skill is the very same I now wield. This power consumes you and eventually Hamura also wanted to rule the world."

"You're already speaking as if the same will not happen to you."

"That's true. Hamura didn't have any help. He had no one who supported him, he only had the people he had absorbed. I on the other hand, have Kurama. He's my comrade! He has already helped me a lot! If it weren't for him, it would have taken a much longer time for me to get used to this ability. And in the end, I would have become a fragmented person. Probably, I would have turned out the same way as Hamura."

"Hm." Hiruzen just didn't know what to think of this ridiculous situation. Here he was, taking a Genin to his private training area. A Genin, who could very well now be one of his strongest soldiers in Konoha. No, he would surely be, if even the Kyuubi inside of him was completely cooperating with him. "I want to fight you and I don't want you to hold back. The only rules are that you're not allowed to use Shinzui Bunshin and no Chakra from… Kurama. Alright?"

They had reached their destination.

"I wish to know how this ability has affected you… and ONLY YOU." Hiruzen suddenly cracked a smile as he eyed his training field, about half a mile underground.. "Danzo never was one to train with me and actually… no one really was. Perhaps you'll be a fun training partner, Naruto."

"Old man… Are you sure about this?"

"Oh I know that you have Danzo's skills and that Devil of the Mist's skills. But I am the Professor. I will show you why the entire world calls me this."

"No Bijuu Chakra and no Shinzui Bunshin?" At the Third's nod, Naruto popped his fists. "Excellent, I've also been wanting to test myself."

* * *

It was a start.

As he was observing them in the mirror , he couldn't help but marvel at the sight. It had taken him years to get to this point. He had trained as hard as he could, to the point that he couldn't even walk home in many situations. But that wasn't enough. It wasn't exhaustion or pain that he needed.

It was desperation.

And he couldn't believe that the one who gave him that was the dead-last.

Well, he couldn't really call him the dead-last anymore now, could he? He would just be insulting himself even further. But even with his Sharingan out and activated, the blonde still wiped the floor with him easily. He would just be insulting himself further if a dead-last could beat him so easily.

He had to admit it, Naruto was strong. Very strong. Forget Kakashi, who didn't push him over his limits despite having the means. No, he could depend on Naruto who, gladly he recalled, was willing to beat him up.

No one dared the offend the last of the Uchiha, it seemed. Leave it to Naruto to not care about titles.

A smirk touched his face for a short time. This was the first step to annihilating his brother.

If he could surpass Naruto, he could surpass Kakashi after that. And perhaps after that all of the elite of Konoha and even the Hokage.

He would surpass them all.

Just to squeeze the life out of Uchiha Itachi.

* * *

OTOGAKURE – A few days later

"There's a problem."

Kimimaro stopped moving at the sudden interruption, although he had sensed Jiroubou coming. He just hadn't expected his subordinate to actually dare speak up while his leader was training. The Bone user was currently beating down fifteen Oto Shinobi blindfolded.

In the next two seconds, he killed all fifteen Shinobi and snarled in Jiroubou's direction. He was still blindfolded. Impressive for anyone else, but Kimimaro wasn't any ordinary Shinobi. "Jiroubou, what did I tell you before?"

The big orange haired Shinobi swallowed nervously, unsure on whether to reply or not. "W-well… N-not to interrupt your sessions, Kimimaro-sama."

A bone suddenly speared him through his left shoulder and another landed eerily close to his face in the wall he was now slumped against. "Orochimaru-sama gave me reign over Otogakure this week. He told me if I see trash acting about, I can put them down without pause. Jiroubou, despite you being one of the Elite Sound Guards… To me, you're still trash. Weak, immensely so."

"Y-yes, Kimimaro-sama!"

Another bone joined the one piercing Jiroubou's left shoulder, just to add to the pain. "As trash, you don't have any rights. Next time, I will see to it you die. Understood?"

"Y-yes!"

"Now, for what reason have you risked your life?"

The young man with the orange Mohawk nodded his head nervously. "We- T-There's an intruder! His Chakra is very weird!"

Kimimaro removed the blindfold and glared incredulously at Jiroubou. "His? Are you telling me it is only one person?"

Jiroubou was a high-level Sensor-nin. With his sensor abilities, he was able to distinguish between males and females and could gauge their Chakra Type, even from a very far distance. "Yes! But his Chakra is telling me he has all elemental affinities! And he's doing nothing to conceal his Chakra! He's just marching towards Otogakure!"

A Bone Sword, made out of Kimimaro's right arm, was now resting between Jiroubou's eyes. "Again, you're telling me there's only one person and you're not dealing with this yourselves? You four are elite guards, act like it. I'm busy." He turned his bone sword into a normal right arm again.

Before Kimimaro could turn away however, Jiroubou dared to speak up again. "B-but wait!" Despite the death glare he was receiving, Jiroubou continued. "It must be a Jinchuuriki! His Chakra Levels are just too high!"

Kimimaro's interest was piqued now and he retracted his Bone Sword once more, since it had activated on instinct again. "A Jinchuuriki?" He seemed to ponder the situation as he casually glanced around the area, observing all dead Shinobi around him. "I've fought Jinchuuriki before, they are very interesting." So interesting that he always had to go Curse Seal Level Two. Why would a Jinchuuriki be heading for Otogakure? "Very well. You intercept and try to kill him, I'll act as your backup and observe first. Consider this a test for the four of you. How far away is he?"

"Still more than a mile, Kimimaro-sama." Jiroubou paused as Kimimaro walked past him. "His Chakra… I can't feed on it."

"Then don't feed on it, fool." The Kaguya popped his neck once. "Orochimaru-sama is in Suna, Kabuto-sensei in Konoha and I don't care where Guren is but she's not here. Let's kill the trash that dares walk into Otogakure Territory in their absence. Assemble the others and go. I won't be far off."

* * *

TBC

So, another chapter done. This chapter is actually half of the chapter I wanted to post. But I felt putting up 12k+ words for a Chapter, rushed as I write them, was a bit too much. This in turn means that the next chapter is also done, I'll put it up in a few days.

Thanks for reading!


	5. Lingering Piece

Naruto Fanfiction

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

The Black Apple, Chapter 4: A Lingering Piece Advances Further

Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait, if there was someone waiting at all. My laptop broke down and I lost all my files. And then I really lost the drive to write.

This has not been pre-read. I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Three guys and one girl were sprinting away from their Village and were about to confront an intruder.

"There's two of them now." His eyebrows furrowed intensely. "It seems the second just appeared out of nowhere and also... This one gives off the same presence as Orochimaru-sama." He then signalled for a short break. "I suggest we turn back. Kimimaro-sama might be fine, but we are no match for whatever is-"

"Maybe you should, you little pissant." A few chuckles followed the girl's comment. "But we're no pathetic cowards." A wicked grin formed on her visage. "But know that when you do you'll be the next one we kill when we get back."

"Listen to Tayuya, Jiroubou!" A spider-like young man advised, a grin quite like Tayuya's on his face. "The four of us can deal with whatever shit is coming. And Kimimaro-sama is actually backing us up in this."

"Let's move." A grey-haired man with what seemed like a second head on his back ordered. "You come with us and you get to live, Jiroubou."

The bulky Shinobi with the orange mohawk snarled. "No, I don't." But he followed, nonetheless.

* * *

"Kotoamatsukami will easily be noticed by Itachi, right?"

"It should be obvious, Itachi is too clever for it."

"What if we implement it for later use? With the same command? And we implant it in Sasuke?"

"Itachi's weakness is definitely Sasuke, but you're overlooking one thing here."

"What?"

Danzo tsked but wore a grin. "To you right now, Sasuke seems like a meek little lamb whose fully developed status you believe to have already prognosed." He held up a hand to make sure Naruto didn't respond. "But you're wrong. Given things like a Doujutsu... it will be noticed by him, he is no fool. Or rather, the Uchiha are no fools. They have a knack for figuring out techniques and their defaults. Giving him a delayed Kotoamatsukami even without his knowledge will most likely still backfire on you in the future. Don't be impulsive, the Shinobi world is a chessboard that should be played on slowly and steadily. If you don't make a move, there is no counter either."

"Tch, but then we don't make any moves."

"Moving isn't always the best option. Sometimes you just have to tweak the chessboard instead of playing on it. Or, erase all possible counters so you can make the one move you want to make... Last."

"It's too bad there's two I can't take." Naruto switched subjects. "But the girl is an Uzumaki and that two-body guy has a cell-technique that might prove problematic for my own ability."

Danzo put a hand to his chin as they calmly walked through the mud. "I'd assume he is a descendant of Ootsutsuki quite like you are. Your abilities aren't the same, but I wouldn't be surprised if his ability is a downgrade from yours. He is from the Shuurai Clan. Following this logic there is one conclusion; if the Shuurai Clan isn't already decimated, we should see to it."

"I agree." He tilted his head as he sensed that his would be assaulters approached. "The other two are good to go, though." He popped his knuckles and summoned Kubikiri Houchou. "Let's do this!"

* * *

"That is Shimura Danzo, he was Orochimaru-sama's superior in Konohagakure. That should be enough to tell you we should not engage." His tone was calm but he definitely wasn't.

"Give it a fucking rest, you cockroach!" Tayuya yelled in whisper-mode. The four of them were currently hiding in a tree overlooking the muddy swamp that Naruto and Danzo were traversing.

"Danzo, huh? Well, that's one old man that might be a bitch to fight. Who's the kid? Looks like a weak tramp to me." Sakon looked at Jiroubou for an answer. The Sensor-nin was also the one with the most information in the Sound Four.

Tayuya agreed with the assessment. The blonde kid was poorly dressed and wore no armor at all. His ragged clothing was also dirtied because of the swamp. What the hell was a stupid kid thinking setting foot in a place like Oto?

"I don't know, but he's definitely a Jinchuuriki. I can't get a read on his Chakra, it's too chaotic."

Kidoumaru, the guy with six arms, looked a bit troubled. "Fighting a Jinchuuriki is not something I enjoy. We should finish him off before he can tap into the demon's Chakra."

The female of the group thought differently. "I don't know what you're so worried about, the guy really looks like shit. You pussies should just hang back while I slice their throats." They had all noticed how she had already finished some handseals.

"Tayuya, you fool! Your Genjutsu has made them find us!"

"You little cocklicker! You called me a fool?!"

Sakon and Kidoumaru were also shocked; Jiroubou never cussed. "Spread out!" Sakon ordered, even though the two Konoha-nin hadn't moved an inch despite having been hit by a failed Genjutsu.

* * *

"It's still very surprising." Danzo nodded to himself. "An Uzumaki wielding Genjutsu. I don't recall ever having faced something like that before."

"Ugh, these fools actually think that they were hidden BEFORE the Genjutsu?"

The older of the duo tapped his cane on the ground. "It seems my presence has them doubting. I sense fear."

Resting the huge Kubikiri on his shoulder, Naruto completely let his guard down. "The Sound Four are such a letdown. More like the Sound Bore."

Danzo didn't respond... immediately. "It's a good thing I know why you summoned me. I'll get rid of all their Curse Seals, but I advise you to summon more to deal with the Orochimaru remnants coming out. Even weakened, that snake is a troublesome opponent."

"I can remove their Cursed Seals by myself, but this is a situation where I need to be careful. I don't want unnecessary casualties." Naruto of course knows the same Jutsu as Danzou. "Why don't you wait for openings as I battle them, perhaps they'll tire out and become easy pickings."

The warhawk snorted almost dramatically. "They are already easy pickings."

* * *

"Take This!"

Kidoumaru yelled gleefully as he fired off one of his most powerful arrows at the blonde kid that was sure to die now. He was in Cursed Seal level Two and the blonde was completely in his sight. He would adjust the webbings attached to the arrow for any dodging that might come.

He will die definitely.

As the arrow approached, the spider-like Shinobi watched in shock as his arrow just got torn apart right in front of the Konoha boy.

'Fuuton?'

As the dust cleared, the blonde had his back turned to him! It seemed he wasn't even paying attention!

"This little mother-Urgh!" He got interrupted harshly as his throat suddenly got grabbed from behind.

"Are you a fool?"

Kaguya Kimimaro.

Would he be killed already? By one of his own?

"I will admit that even I wouldn't be able to deal with your most powerful attack that easily and yet you still want to continue?" He released Kidoumaru. "Ever the impulsive one. I'm afraid this one won't be so easy."

Even Kimimaro was saying this?

Who was this blonde kid?!

"... What do we do?" Kidoumaru rasped as he fell on his knees on the branch he and Kimimaro were standing on.

"I've ordered the others to stand down. You moved quicker than I anticipated." Kimimaro had his eyes narrowed at the strange blonde Jinchuuriki and the old man. "They're confident and I believe they have the right to be. I sense no fear at all and they know I am here, too. Since you were so eager to start your deathmatch, I've suggested you fight them and distract them while we wait for openings."

Kidoumaru turned fearful.

"The others agreed easily. Go."

And Kidoumaru went down charging at Naruto and Danzo. Disobeying a direct order from Kimimaro meant instant death, after all.

With incredible speed thanks to the Cursed Seal Kidoumaru came barging in at Naruto, who easily pivoted around his assault.

The Oto-nin wielded two bows; one bow left and one bow right. He could fire both almost instantly, while also being able to do Taijutsu, since he had six arms.

"Quite dangerous, your arrows."

Kidoumaru ignored him and continued firing off arrows at both him and Danzou while also trying to get a hit or kick in as he circled Naruto.

Unfortunately the arrows assaulting Danzo were torn apart before they even got close just as easily as with Naruto.

His Taijutsu wasn't great, but in his level two state Kidoumaru was considered deadly in the art.

He realised he just wasn't against these opponents as the blonde decked him hard to the ground and yanked off two of his left arms in the process.

He would probably die here…

* * *

"No openings at all. Their Fuuton defense seems to be quite the pain. Firing off my own Jutsu won't make a difference. My finger bone bullets are about as powerful as Kidoumaru's arrows."

Sakon frowned. 'Kimimaro's pretty talkative. Is he afraid? Is he thinking of retreating?'

Tayuya was surprisingly silent as they were watching the one-sided battle. The arrogant young woman knew they were out of their league here.

Kidoumaru had jumped back to create some distance between himself and the two from Konoha. He was bleeding profusely and panting were trained to deal with this kind of damage though… What was going on?

"He can drain Chakra." Jiroubou clarified. "Quite quickly, too. Maintaining the Cursed Seal now is very painful for Kidoumaru."

"You're wrong."

Jiroubou looked confused as he stared at Kimimaro.

"I can see it. He doesn't drain Chakra… He drains something else." Kimimaro snarled and turned angrier by the second. "My eyes can see it. Look closely, Kidoumaru is extremely fatigued because… he has aged considerably."

"So that little shit drains age?!" Sakon released Ukon from himself. "We need to kill that ability right now!"

"I don't know what his ability does, but we can't let him touch us." The leader of the Sound Four ordered. "Kidoumaru's specialty is ranged assault, so we should get him out of there while we-"

All of their eyes widened as the old man all of a sudden appeared right next to Kidoumaru and pulled out…

A sickly looking Orochimaru!

"Retreat!" Kimimaro immediately ordered at that. "They know too-"

"Much, right?"

Naruto had just appeared right between all of them.

* * *

She didn't know what to do but run as fast as she could. As soon as that blonde kid had appeared between them, he had sliced into both Sakon and Ukon with some Wind Technique that made countless cuts but also seemed to entrap them.

Kimimaro had turned tail as well and was running and jumping right in front of her. She didn't care much for the fat bastard Jiroubou, but she was sure he was dead by now. He couldn't keep up with this speed anyway.

'Unreal… We, Orochimaru's elite, are actually running away from a kid and an old man like a bunch of cowards...' Tayuya thought as Kimimaro was slowly expanding the distance between them. "Fucking asshole's gonna leave me to die too."

Her eyes narrowed as Kimimaro had stopped all of a sudden. A few seconds later she joined him on the ground, very near to Otogakure.

She was completely shocked, though, to see who Kimimaro was facing.

Kidoumaru and Jiroubou, looking fresher and stronger than ever!

"What the fuck is going?!" She screamed in frustration.

Kimimaro remained calm however. "They're the real thing, they're not illusions." But the Kaguya was also very confused. He wasn't a sensor-nin like Jiroubou, but he could sense Chakra Levels. He had felt Kidoumaru, Sakon, Ukon and Jiroubou die just about a minute ago. He had been running top-speed, a speed they definitely couldn't keep up with, and yet…

They had beaten him to this spot.

It was impossible.

"You're not that fast." The blonde Konoha-nin appeared behind Kidoumaru and Jiroubou. "Why are you running away anyway? Shouldn't you defend Otogakure?"

Kimimaro glared at the fool, but also at Kidoumaru and Jiroubou. "Who are you?" This stranger had somehow killed his subordinates and had then revived them again in the same time he had been running back to Oto.

Again, it was impossible.

"Shouldn't you state your own name first, Kaguya Kimimaro?" The blonde glanced at Kidoumaru and Jiroubou before grinning back at him. "I daresay your two underlings have switched sides. They work for me now."

"Fucking shitheads! We're going to-"

"Tayuya."

The redhead continued glaring at them, but listened to Kimimaro's request to be quiet. They really weren't in a favorable position here.

"Ah, it seems you've caught up with them." From behind, the other Konoha-nin joined them.

'Shit, I forgot about this fucking old man… It got even worse!'

"You took quite long, Danzo."

"Yes, Orochimaru is quite a hassle."

"What did you do to him?!" In an instant Kimimaro had turned level two and was rushing towards Danzo, but had to quickly sidestep wooden stakes coming from the ground.

"There, there." Danzo seemed to reprimand. "Know your place, little child. You may be a Kaguya, but I wield the Mokuton."

At that Kimimaro really knew they were not to come out of this alive. Out of all the Bloodlines, his was extremely powerful.

But the Mokuton was undoubtedly stronger.

His Cursed Seal receded, but he kept his guard up. "You haven't killed us, so… what do you want?"

"Your allegiance."

Kimimaro turned to regard the foolish blonde who had answered. "... Who are you?" He repeated the question.

"Oh, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, a fresh Genin from Konoha."

'Who the fuck is he kidding?' Tayuya thought as she watched him. 'He slaughtered Kidoumaru and Sakon without even trying...'

With a flick of his wrist Jiroubou and Kidoumaru suddenly vanished in wisps of Chakra, a detail that didn't go unnoticed by either Kimimaro and Tayuya.

"I see… You're quite dangerous, Uzumaki Naruto." The Kaguya acknowledged. "But expect no allegiance from us. We serve Orochimaru-sama."

Danzo snorted and Naruto tsked. "But then whoever said you had any choice in the matter?"

Kimimaro blocked the strike from behind as Naruto used shunshin. He was about to make a counter move, but the blonde had returned to his previous spot. "Ah, sorry about that. I just needed a slight touch to try out this new Technique."

Kimimaro was a person who wasn't easily deterred, but Naruto's grin wasn't pleasant at all.

"Kyouzou Tensei."

Tayuya looked horrified when from out of the blonde's body an exact copy of Kimimaro walked out.

"It's not perfect, but I only touched you a little bit. Let's see how much of you I managed to 'comprehend', Kaguya Kimimaro."

'This is not good.' The Bone user thought. The first thing he noticed was that this copy was like his mirror image. Everything was the exact opposite.

And that was exactly what would bring him down, he realized as Naruto rushed at him with his copy by his side.

* * *

A week later...

With his eyes closed, he could sense the many Genin around him stressed to the point that they were actually thinking of giving up altogether.

The Chuunin Exam's first test came in the form of a paper examination. This would normally be no problem for him, but this particular test had questions that were impossible to answer.

Still, that didn't mean it was a problem.

Hyuga Neji was a Genin whose subskills was actually finding a solution as quick as possible. This test was meant to be cheated, obviously, and he had the perfect tool for this.

The Byakugan.

But he would revel in the silent panic around him first as he opened his eyes, Byakugan still not active.

Konoha had quite a few teams participating, but he was most interested in the rookie Team 7, under guidance of Hatake Kakashi. To be more accurate, he was most interested in the last of the Uchiha. The other two Genin were probably garbage and he had forgotten their names about a second or two after introduction.

The Last of the Uchiha was actually using his Doujutsu quite flauntingly.

'The Sharingan… The Doujutsu said to be superior to the Byakugan. We will find out during this exam.' Having seen enough, Neji decided to activate the Byakugan and end this test cleanly.

However…

He flinched visibly in his seat.

His vision was 360 degrees, but it keyed in on one individual instantly.

'H...How?'

Complete darkness. This person was completely dark. He could ALWAYS see Chakra Coils in EVERYONE. What was going on? Who was this person?!

'This person is a Hyuga's worst match-up.' Sweating in slight panic, he altered his Byakugan's view to normal vision instead of x-ray.

'It's the Uchiha's teammate...' Neji was utterly confused as he switched back to x-ray. 'His eyes… Only his eyes are a pristine white… Very, VERY similar to'

The young Hyuga prodigy had his fists clenched.

'To a Hyuga's.'

* * *

"What's going on? Ever since that paper test you've been on edge, are you alright?"

"Yosh! There is no need to worry, Neji-san! You have me and Ten-Ten by your side!"

"I know, Lee." Neji responded as he turned to his two teammates. "Forget what I said before this Chuunin Exam. There are actually a few participants we probably should avoid."

"Neji?" Lee met Ten-ten's confused glance. Neji was too confident in his own skills to avoid opponents. But he was dead serious.

"There's a red-haired kid from Sunagakure who has more Chakra than a Jounin. I assume Suna has a Jounin participating for them. A Konoha Genin with grey hair and glasses has numerous amounts of scars on his organs, so I think he has a very formidable regeneration ability." Neji paused as he made sure his teammates were listening to him. "I am sure Uchiha Sasuke will be quite a decent opponent, but I am more worried about his teammate, the blonde one."

"What, you mean that Naruto kid?" Ten-Ten was now completely confused. "He is the one who has you so worked up? Seriously?"

Neji nodded without shame. "Don't take him lightly." He sent her a meaningful look. "He can block my Byakugan completely."

Lee's and Ten-Ten's eyes widened at that little tidbit.

"Presumably, he is my worst enemy. Let's avoid Team 7."

* * *

The plans would have surely changed with the sudden disappearance of his elite guards, but he was quite sure the snake would still try and approach his Uchiha teammate.

Danzo had made quick work of all the Orochimaru coming from the Cursed Seals in case the Missing-nin had a way of relaying information to the original. Even though only originals came out, of course.

"Let's go to the tower and take everyone's scrolls." Naruto suggested as he nodded ahead. "It's not that far."

"How do you know?"

"Let's just say I've been here many times before." Was the answer Sakura received.

The real Naruto watched his Kage Bunshin and his teammates head for the tower as he was in hiding. Making sure no one was spying on him, he performed the Shinzui Bunshin effortlessly and out came Jiroubou, Kidoumaru and Kimimaro.

"I've given the three of you far more Chakra than you're accustomed to. Make sure you get used to it fast." He eyed them all severely seriously. "Your mission is to kill Orochimaru and whoever he is with. Dispel if you fail."

He threw them all a Hitai-Ate. "Wear this to enrage him." A Konoha Headband. "I want you to tell him you're with Konoha now." He waved them off after that, a sign for them to head out.

As the three left wordlessly, Konoha headband tied around the forehead, Naruto performed the Shinzui Bunshin again.

This time, he had summoned Shimura Danzo, Yuki Haku and Momochi Zabuza. "Weaken the Ichibi Jinchuuriki." He turned to Danzo. "Perform the Gogyou Fuuin on him. Don't kill anyone on his team. If possible, back Kimimaro and the others up and kill Orochimaru" With another wave of his hand, they were off to finish their missions.

Lastly, he summoned two more Clones of Essence. This time, two Root ANBU. Nara Hyo and Aburame Torune. "Let us hunt down a spy…."

* * *

Naruto's Kage Bunshin had quite easily sliced up a huge snake by usage of a Wind Jutsu and was now watching how the rest of his team were shaken to the core by this random Grass Genin's Killing Intent.

It was actually quite an impressive amount. Of course, he knew this was Orochimaru in disguise. He had read through Danzo's reports, after all.

He had to act the weak Genin here and pretend he was frozen too.

"Fuuton Ninjutsu, huh? Quite a powerful Technique, too." His focus was actually on him for a few seconds, but he then changed his mind. "But you're still weak if you can't even move in my true presence."

"I expected more from you, though… Itachi's little brother is quite the disappointment." Orochimaru grinned through his disguise as Sasuke wanted to rage at the comment but simply couldn't because of the Killer Intent.

"At least you've activated your Sharingan. It looks like it has some good potential." The Grass Genin took two Kunai and readied to throw them. "But that hardly matters if you can't survive this Kunai."

Naruto frowned as the other Kunai would be thrown at Sakura. He paused at himself as he wondered what would happen if Sasuke and Sakura died here? What would happen to Team Seven?

He wasn't impressed when Sasuke managed to unfreeze and save Sakura and himself from the thrown Kunai. Orochimaru's Killer Intent was nothing compared to the Kyuubi's. Although he was a bit surprised to see the Uchiha save Sakura.

Orochimaru cackled gleefully and was about to chase when three Shinobi landed right in front of him.

And Naruto couldn't help but cherish the shock and rage on the Grass Genin's face.

Kimimaro, Kidoumaru and Jiroubou had arrived.

All donning the Konoha Headband.

As Naruto made his way to the rest of his team, he couldn't help but think that life was pretty nifty.

* * *

"That was rather easy."

"Konoha has some weaker teams participating." The leader of three Konoha Genin shrugged. "Easy pickings, perfect for the mission."

"You're still on that Konoha Rookie team, right? The one with the Uchiha?" A nod came from the leader. "We'll wait at the tower, then."

Kabuto watched disinterestedly as Akadou Yoroi and Misumi Tsurugi walked away from him. 'It's too bad I can't kill those two weaklings yet...' With a sigh, Kabuto started moving in the direction team 7 would probably be.

As he moved, he couldn't help but wonder if it was such a good idea to make a move during the Chuunin Exams now. What with the sudden disappearance of the Sound Five and the entire annihilation of one of their biggest hideouts. It was a rather big blow.

He wasn't so sure if Orochimaru's assumptions were correct. His master believed it was the work of the Akatsuki. It was feasible, of course. Perhaps they were looking for new members and had Kimimaro or someone else from the Sound Five in mind. Perhaps it was just an act of revenge.

Either way, they lost five promising soldiers.

He stopped walking as someone had appeared right in front of him. A Genin actually managed to sneak up on him?

"Excuse me, Konoha Genin?"

It was the dead-last from Uchiha Sasuke's team. Uzumaki Naruto, the disappointing Jinchuuriki.

"Ah, yes, can I help you?" Kabuto put on a harmless guy act and started moving to the blonde. Perhaps he could accompany him back to his team and get a read on Sasuke after that. "Did you lose you team?"

Kabuto frowned as Naruto just kept staring at him. "Are you… lost, maybe?" He tried.

Still no response from Naruto.

And then, for some reason, it turned a lot colder in the area. Was this… Killing Intent?

"Yakushi Kabuto… For betraying Konoha, the penalty is assimilation." The blonde uttered, a sinister grin on his features.

He almost paused at that, but Kabuto was a seasoned spy. He simply scratched the back of his head and chuckled as if confused. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about, but it seems you know my name. You have me at a disadvantage."

Kabuto's eyes hardened as he heard two people land behind him. 'An ambush? From Team Seven?'

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, but you already know this. I've heard you're pretty strong, somewhere along the level of the average Jounin? Why don't we put that to the test?"

While keeping an eye on Naruto, Kabuto slightly turned to see who had just appeared behind him.

'Aburame Torune and Nara Hyo? Is Danzo making a move against us? How foolhardy.' But Kabuto was calculating his chances. 'The Genin is easy, but these two are quite the hassle. The Nara has probably already laid several traps around me and I can't let Torune get too close to me. I probably can't get away easily with the Nara obviously prepared.'

"Why are you here?" Kabuto's tone had changed drastically. "Orochimaru-sama will not be pleased by this interference."

Again like before, he got no response. Kabuto was a pretty level-headed person, but this situation hardly allowed him to be calm. He was at a severe disadvantage here.

"Oy, Kabuto..."

Kabuto regarded the Jinchuuriki, now with a little red Chakra surging around him. 'So he CAN control the Bijuu's Chakra? I guess I can't underestimate him either.' Despite the situation, Kabuto stayed rather calm. He had plenty of escape techniques to his disposal after all.

"Orochimaru is probably already dead."

The grey-haired spy narrowed his eyes at Naruto. "So you work for Danzo now, Naruto-kun? Or have you always worked for him?"

"Neither. Danzo works for me. Those two are my slaves as well." Naruto then pointed right at him. "And you will be my slave, too."

Alright, this kid was talking nonsense. "Interesting." Kabuto was very confused, because the two Root ANBU hadn't moved at all. This kid was pretty crazy, but he could sense the massive amount of Chakra he was exuding. 'Alright, things are getting dangerous… This Naruto kid now has more Chakra than I and these these two Root ANBU combined.'

"I've ordered them to stand by in case you want to run. Let's fight, just you and me. I'll let you go if you can defeat me."

"Oh?" Kabuto's eyes turned bloodred. "Is that right?"

Rushing forward in amazing speed with Chakra Scalpels ready to slice into Naruto, Kabuto wanted to finish this quick.

But Naruto was quicker and was above him all of a sudden, with finished handseals to boot! "Fuuton, Tobigeri!"

Naruto's right foot took with it a powerful wind-infused storm that completely knocked into him, since he was in the middle of a dash. He used a quick Kawarimi to escape most of the damage.

As Kabuto appeared a few meters away, Naruto was on him again. This time he had a Wind Sword ready to gut him!

'That is Baki's Wind Sword Technique!' He barely managed to duck underneath the slice and responded with a Chakra Scalpel.

Only to have his right arm sliced off.

Taking the time to be shocked was not smart as Naruto slammed his fist hard in his face. He went down to the ground hard. A footstomp completely pulverized his right leg and six shuriken impaled his remaining arm. "You're not very strong for Orochimaru's go-to guy..."

'What is happening?' Kabuto couldn't do anything as Naruto had completely immobilized him. His only remaining arm was impaled by Shuriken and the only thing he could use was his left leg. 'I'm screwed.' But then the real shocker came as he came to the conclusion that his Chakra Reserves… were empty!

"What did you do?!"

"There is no need for screaming, Kabuto-kun. You've underestimated me and paid dearly for it. I would feel much pity for you, but then I didn't really enjoy being underestimated, so..."

Where did all his Chakra go?! He couldn't use his regeneration skill like this!

"I like the panic on your face, Kabuto-kun."

This fucking brat was gloating!

"Don't worry, I'll heal you."

He didn't like the tone of his voice as he said that.

"But once healed, you'll be my little soldier."

* * *

Orochimaru was not amused as he glared at the three in front of him. "What is going on?" He had instantly sensed that none of them had a Cursed Seal. Also, looking at Kimimaro, he could see that the Kaguya was no longer ill.

Had he made a deal with that hag, Tsunade? Had he been cured?

Did Konoha take his hideout and somehow manage to take his soldiers for their own? "You ungrateful little fools… You stand in front of me with Konoha Hitai-Ate?!" Gathering all the Chakra he could and dispelling his disguise, he was ready to kill these ingrates.

Sasuke and his team had already left and were swiftly approaching the tower anyway.

"Orochimaru. We have orders to kill you." Kimimaro said as he took a step forward.

"You don't have Juugo's Juuinjutsu. Without it you're about as strong as an infant." He observed Jiroubou and Kidoumaru, who were just staring right back at him. "Very well, let's see how this plays out!"

Fighting Kimimaro was a difficult for most, but Orochimaru was not most. He was overpowering the trio quite easily, but he didn't remember them being this powerful. Had they been given something that strengthened them?

"Orochimaru."

Whipping his head back and he made sure to keep his three opponents at bay, he snarled at the familiar face of Shimura Danzo.

"So this is your doing, old fool? Did you brainwash my soldiers?!"

"Brainwash?" Danzo shook his head condescendingly. "Hypocrite."

The Snake Summoner didn't recognise the girl by Danzo's side, but he did recognise Momochi Zabuza. The Kiri Nuke-nin wouldn't be too hard to deal with, but the odds were definitely against him now with Danzo here. He had to retreat.

"I will remember this." He warned Danzo as he sank into the floor as quickly as he could, using a Doton Jutsu to scatter his presence in Snake Summons under ground.

"Heh, so that was Orochimaru, huh?" Zabuza chuckled. "It's pretty fun to be in an army this strong."

"It's dangerous he thinks we have turned on him, but it is fortunate he is extremely ill-informed." Danzo muttered to him and Haku. Orochimaru was always one with the escape tactics. It would be difficult to corner and kill him anywhere.

"I believe Naruto wanted him alive anyway. That kid sure likes to play this Shinobi World."

"Yes, he does. I just hope he doesn't get carried away."

* * *

Hacking, he managed to finally regain control of his limbs as he stared at the unmoving form of his little brother.

Just what the hell had happened?!

These three Shinobi just came out of nowhere and completely decimated his younger brother.

The undefeatable master of the desert had been beaten in seconds.

By an old man with a cane.

Temari was right next to him, trying to help him up. She was in much better shape because she had actually managed to block the attack on her person. But she still got hurt badly as she was sent harshly into a tree bark.

He himself got the breath knocked out of him with a single blow to the stomach.

Who were these people? Gaara was still unconscious and Shukaku was not breaking out!

"I recognised one of them." Temari muttered as they slowly made their way to Gaara. "Momochi Zabuza. I know because he wields the sword, the Kubikiri Houchou… But what the hell is a Missing-nin from the Mist doing here?!"

"... I don't know, but I think they really messed Gaara up."

* * *

Mitarashi Anko was not pleased.

There were several hidden cameras placed throughout the Forest of Death, but somehow all of them didn't record what was important. Where did the teams that are still missing go?!

The Second Test had ended yesterday and quite a few teams had passed, but a lot of the teams were missing and ANBU were sent to investigate.

There was no need for preliminary tests, despite there being so many teams in this Chuunin Exams and the reason was this.

A lot of teams just went missing!

The teams that actually did pass were two Konoha teams, a team from Sand and a team from Grass.

Two Konoha teams were found with heavily injured members but other than that… all others were missing!

This was actually disastrous. Other Villages will not accept this… Which was why Konoha had sent many ANBU teams in to investigate. But a day later now and still no news.

Anko wanted to interrogate the teams that passed, but the Hokage wanted them to rest. They seemed spooked, especially the Sand Team seemed very shaken.

The Konoha Teams that made it were Kakashi's team and Gai's team. From the Sand it was the team with the Ichibi Jinchuuriki and from the Grass Village three that didn't seem particularly talented.

The Third Test will be delayed because of the missing teams. The matches for the tournament were as of yet still unknown, but once known the appointed Jounin Instructors will be informed.

* * *

Orochimaru was not amused.

He was in the Sand Village at the moment.

He hadn't heard from Kabuto and he assumed Danzo had gotten to him. He was now acting Kazekage, but he couldn't do much with most of his elite soldiers gone. Sunagakure wasn't strong enough to take on Konoha, and he wasn't sure if it was possible with the remaining powers he had in Otogakure.

All he wanted was Sasuke's eyes and Hiruzen Sarutobi's death.

Why did Danzo betray him?! He wanted Hiruzen dead just as much!

Orochimaru had already killed a few of his Suna subordinates in his rage. Right now he was contemplating on taking all his test subjects and just rain down on Konoha.

Or to just call it off and try a different approach? Make Sunagakure stronger from the inside first perhaps?

* * *

"What did you do?"

Naruto and Danzo were in the Hokage's office. The now fuuin-sealed Office.

"What do you mean?"

"I thought I specifically ordered you not to take more people in, Naruto."

A cough brought Hiruzen's gaze to Danzo. "If memory serves, I believe you ordered Naruto not to absorb any more of Konoha. He has followed those rules obediently."

Hiruzen's gaze turned into a glare. "Did you absorb ALL those teams, Naruto?!"

Naruto shrugged. "They were there for the pickings, Hokage-sama. I only went for the promising ones, the others I incinerated. The ANBU should find the marks. Besides, didn't that instructor make everyone sign papers before entering the Forest of Death?"

"He is correct, Hiruzen. They knew the risks. Signing those papers just meant death for the many."

"Be quiet, Danzo."

"Hokage-sama, why is this such a problem?"

"Two Kumo teams, one Konoha team, two Rain teams, two Oto teams, one Grass team, one Sand team, two Kiri teams, one from Waterfall and one from Moon Village. What were you thinking?!"

"Hey, I didn't take all of them! Not even half of those, even!"

"Naruto, you need to understand that you're killing people! Innocents! For your own gain!" Naruto realised that the Hokage was very serious. "You've committed a crime and you will be punished for it."

"I will be punished?"

"Yes. I am considering taking you out of the Chuunin Exams and resigning you from Kakashi's team. You've gone too far. Perhaps going as far to resigning you from the Shinobi Program altogether."

Naruto frowned at the verdict. "That's harsh. All I've done is protect Konoha. Do you know how much I have prevented by doing the things I've done? Do you realize how much I know about all the other Countries now?"

"It's true, Hiruzen. I know much thanks to my ROOT Anbu, but Naruto knows so much more. We've been kept in the dark about what happened in Amegakure. We know all about the Jinchuuriki everywhere. We know everything now."

"Are you quite done, Danzo?"

"Since you're only considering punishment, perhaps I can come forth with a suggestion, Hokage-sama?" Naruto interjected.

"I don't think you can do anything to condone your actions, Naruto."

"Well… Hear me out, at least?"

"Alright. But this better not be nonsense."

Danzo actually grinned as Naruto stepped a bit closer to the Fire Leader.

"I have mastered another subskill." Naruto started as he summoned another Shinzui Bunshin beside himself.

Hiruzen seemed unimpressed as Yamanaka Fuu was standing in the office all of sudden.

Naruto grinned like a cat who just caught the bird. "I call it the Rinne Tensei."

* * *

TBC

New Jutsu!

Kyouzou Tensei - Mirror Image Technique

Fuuton, Tobigeri - Wind Technique - Dropkick

Rinne Tensei - Not actually a new jutsu. But it comes from the Ootsutsuki and I've made it so that the Gedo Rinne Tensei in Canon is actually derived from the subskill Naruto knows. You know, since in this story, Naruto is descendant of the Ootsutsuki.

What happened to the other teams?! What happened to Tayuya?! Why did he summon Yamanaka Fuu at the end?

So many things to write!


	6. Steady Breaks Easy

The Black Apple

Author's Note: I don't care much for holding back. Canon will go out the window.

Chapter 5: Steady Breaks Easy

* * *

"Nine still missing with this. I think it's safe to presume they were all killed in there."

He gave the doctor an absent nod as he looked at two Shinobi bedridden in front of him. These two were from Sunagakure and the third member of their Genin Team hadn't been spat back out from the Chuunin Exams.

Or from Naruto, to be more precise.

Rinne Tensei.

It was a ridiculous Jutsu, one too godly. Proof was standing right beside him.

Umino Iruka was back amongst the living, fresher and stronger than ever. Naruto had revived him and had given him a far larger Chakra Pool.

All of the Genin actually revived will need more recovery time than Iruka because all of their minds had been tampered with by Yamanaka Inoichi.

The Yamanaka Clanhead was now one of the few Shinobi in Konoha aware of Naruto's ability. And he was very afraid.

And with good reason, too. The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki had grown far more powerful than any could have imagined, especially considering he was the dead-last of his class.

In fact, Inoichi had suggested they should keep him behind bars and seal his Chakra. He commented that something dangerous like that should not walk around freely.

Hiruzen almost agreed. He would have to call for Jiraiya to come back, that man had a knack for binding people to Konoha.

"Hokage-sama, will I be reinstated as a teacher?" Iruka spoke up as soon as the doctor was out of hearing range.

Hiruzen regarded the former teacher coolly. "Having being part of this assimilation… your knowledge and skill have changed drastically, am I right?"

A single nod came as a response.

"I would assume that teaching isn't something you would want to practice at this time?"

Seeing the question beneath the question, Iruka simply answered. "I would like to join a Recon Team. Specifically one that hunts for the Akatsuki."

"Those are mostly ANBU." This was also of course a question.

"I am willing."

Hokage couldn't smile at all in this situation. Things were really becoming messed up. "So be it."

* * *

They were his tools. His weapons.

His friends weren't supposed to be his weapons.

Iruka was like his older brother.

Family was definitely not going to be his weapon either.

Naruto had a hard look on his face as he moved towards the training grounds he was going to meet up with his team.

The others weren't his friends, nor his family.

They were his tools.

He saw Sasuke in the distance practicing some kata and Sakura standing upside down on… or under a tree branch and nodded his head.

'Teammates aren't friends or family. They will be tools too.' He zoned in on Sasuke. 'Sasuke wants to kill his older brother and I want Itachi as my tool. That makes him useful for now.'

"Glad to see you in time, Naruto."

"Unlike some people." He quipped back instantly as Kakashi was suddenly walking next to him.

"So I've heard some interesting things. Are you redeeming yourself?"

"Not at all." Perhaps he was.

"Hokage-sama wants to see you in his office after our training sessions." Kakashi wasn't too sure how to feel about his student now. The boy had killed many already and many more were sure to follow. "Has something to do with the Chuunin Exams."

"I'm sure." The grief he received from those blasted exams was getting a bit tiresome.

* * *

There was something completely different. About everyone.

Naruto used to be a clown. Used to be a moron. He was always pranking people and begging for attention. But now he was quiet and composed. Calculative. Sometimes he was still playful, but in a very, very manipulative way. He could really be mean nowadays.

Sasuke was always quiet, but now he held people at a certain distance even more. He talked more, but also less. Even she could see he was very wary of Naruto ever since the blonde had beaten him.

Kakashi had always been quite serious, but he was also very cautious when he was around Naruto. With Kakashi, she felt like the older Jounin didn't quite trust Naruto… and somehow Sasuke either. She saw Kakashi as a person waiting for accidents to happen.

She herself changed a bit too. Sure, she still loved Sasuke with every fibre that was her, but… She had started training. She deserved to be in these Chuunin Exams.

The matchups for the final test of the Chuunin Exams were known and she was facing a Genin from Sunagakure.

"My opponent will be Kankurou from the Sand. I hope I stand a chance."

"If you were to fight him right now, you would lose." Naruto looked up from a scroll he was reading. Their team was taking a short break from training.

Kakashi was, of course, reading Icha Icha and Sasuke was catching his breath close to Naruto. She herself was also out of breath. Naruto seemed to be doing fine.

The Kunoichi was about to retort, but Naruto continued. "He's a puppeteer. He uses Chakra Strings invisible to the human eye and controls wooden puppets to attack you. Coincidentally, these puppets can be equipped with poisonous tools. You might want to work on your speed. I recommend using smoke bombs against him."

"How do you know this?"

Kakashi was now looking at Naruto too.

"Oh I ran into their team in the Forest of Death."

"But you were with us the whole time, right?"

Naruto grinned at her. "Or was I?"

"It was a Kage Bunshin the entire time." Sasuke answered Sakura's next question and didn't even need his Sharingan for it. "Can I assume you know more? My opponent will be one from Konoha. Hyuga Neji."

"Ah… He's pretty good. He's the type of person that will be prepared for you. Cover your weaknesses and don't rely on your Sharingan too much, because he will be counting on that. He has the Byakugan at a pretty high level so he can see through your ruses, Genjutsu and tactics. Take him out from a distance while trying to bind him with your Kunai Wiring Techniques."

"What about your own opponent, Naruto?"

The blonde grinned. "As fate would have it… it seems I'm facing a relative."

'What?'

* * *

Reduced to a slave puppet. Momochi Zabuza took a long look at the cards in his hands without really looking at them.

Being part of the collective made him in the know about everything Naruto did and thought. Despite being one of Naruto's soldiers he could still think and feel and talk.

The second Naruto required something though, something in him just clicked a certain way. It was like he was Naruto, but Zabuza at the same time. He supposed it was what a Clone just created would feel like. He wanted what Naruto wanted and that was all there was to it.

A collective, indeed.

Naruto sometimes just released them and let them do whatever they wanted to do. It wasn't as if they could run anyway. He knew. Venture too far and you cease to exist.

At the moment he was seated at a table in the kitchen of Naruto's apartment. Playing cards with Kaguya Kimimaro, Yuki Haku, Kidoumaru and Jiroubou. Naruto had also summoned Danzo and his Root subordinates, but the old man and his following had Root business to attend to.

In a way, Naruto had made them immortal and invincible. But in another, they didn't have their own lives anymore.

Were they even truly there? Or were they just Naruto's Clones believing to be someone else?

"This is pretty fucked up. I don't even know if I'm alive or not. It's messing with my head."

Kidoumaru looked up from his own cards. "That explains why you haven't played your cards yet."

"Obviously we are still ourselves. The Rinne Tensei is proof of this." Kimimaro spoke. "I believe it foolish to dwell on this however. Real or not, we should consider ourselves dead, you know how the Rinne Tensei works, after all."

"Yes, it's simply an advanced… or rather, enhanced ability."

"It seems unfair, but that's what you get once caught. Even when revived, Naruto still can undo your entire existence with a simple flick of his Chakra. The body created by the Rinne Tensei carries a failsafe, after all."

"It seems only wise."

Everyone turned to the door to see Danzo had returned.

"You don't give the dog the remote control."

* * *

Blood was so very interesting. It worked in ways unimaginable and with Chakra the possibilities were just too intriguing.

Right now was a time that was not yet.

A time not yet to reveal what he had become and what potential his tools carried.

But it was all just so very interesting. Too good not to execute.

"Naruto."

For now he had to abide the rules laid out for him in the Fire Country. As he took a look at his leader, the Sandaime, he knew he was far from ready to lead.

But did he want to stay rooted in one place?

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen had aged. Considerably a lot more in these past few weeks. The transformation Naruto had undergone from innocent naive rookie Genin to seasoned war veteran and cold-blooded killer would do that to his supposed grandfather.

A terrible grandfather at that.

Looking at Naruto now, Hiruzen could barely recognize him. The hardened look and the paranoid language his body contained made the boy seem like the Second Hokage more than anyone.

It wasn't all bad, just mostly. The Naruto he knew was buried under the myriad of personalities he now possessed.

He had come to realize Naruto could control the ability now, he could touch without absorbing. There never was a need for gloves, but Naruto still chose to equip grey gauntlets. Under the dark green uniform the blonde was wearing, he could see bandages. He was no sensor, but he would bet his hat those bandages were induced with Chakra.

"It seems the situation is under control. Inoichi-san mentioned your targets in the Chuunin Exams had little recollection on what happened anyway. You've moved rather wisely."

Naruto's grin was genuine. "Of course. I wouldn't want to trouble Hi no Kuni."

The spar he had with the boy several weeks ago was enlightening. He had the moves, the techniques, the knowledge and even the experience. He was a very dangerous Shinobi. But above all those he had acquired, he didn't have what was necessary to be a complete Shinobi.

The proof of one's own identity. The complete security of one's self.

This peculiar ability he had might not allow that to ever happen, but if the day would come where Naruto had no conflict of identity or personality…

Hiruzen didn't want to imagine it, but he knew it might not be pleasant. Shamefully he would admit that he hoped Naruto would stay conflicted forever within himself. Then he wouldn't have to worry about another rogue in the making.

"None of this has reached outside our Country. Victims fall in Chuunin Exams and this one's not so bad considering previous handlings."

"Am I allowed to continue, Hokage-sama?"

The Fire Leader snorted shortly. "You've always been trouble, Naruto. But now you're trouble AND dangerous. Please refrain from unnecessary provocations. I'm allowing further participation, but with the warning that you're not allowed to kill or absorb anyone. Is this understood?"

"Yes, I believe I have taken all that was fruitful in these Exams anyway." Hiruzen didn't like the playful glint in Naruto's eyes, but he supposed it came with the nature of his ability.

"Have you given it a name?"

Naruto blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Your ability of draining… have you thought of a name?"

"Ah..." Sarutobi was surprised to see sudden melancholy in Naruto's eyes. "I call it… Shizentouta."

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes at this. How foreboding.

* * *

On top of the head of the Fourth Hokage.

His favourite spot.

A lot had changed in the past few months. His life had changed drastically. He knew so much now.

He knew about all the wars. He knew about all the Kekkai Genkai. He knew about the Jinchuuriki and he knew about the Akatsuki. He didn't claim he knew everything, but he sure as hell knew Konoha wasn't the nicest Village out there.

With the Uchiha Massacre and the involvement in many alliances gone wrong outside the Fire Country, Konoha was actually a pretty grim village, maybe even petty.

But he held knowledge about other villages as well. Perhaps all villages, or their leaders and regimes, were petty.

Nightfall came and he watched as the village lit up.

Konoha, the village that hated him. All because his father chose him as Konoha's Jinchuuriki.

Hokage… It was his dream, his ambition. But would he be happy being rooted? The world was so very interesting and so very threatening. Being a leader in just one country didn't seem enough. He realized this quite some time ago.

It stopped being interesting.

He had a plan now and he couldn't help but want to implement the pieces for his game. But he had to be patient. He was still young and inexperienced to the outside world.

Kurama told him to slow down, because his mind was quite fractured at the moment and it was taking the old fox his everything to keep Naruto's personality intact.

Spitting out Shinzui Bunshin actually helped quite a bit on organizing the inside. Taking them back in was hard on him, but it became more bearable each next time.

Every night he would let out some of his Essence Clones to get a breather, so to speak.

He was doing good even if he did have a grumpy fox demon inside of him.

He was Uzumaki Naruto and he must never forget this.

* * *

The Chuunin Exams Final Examinations.

He had expected the Kazekage, but was informed he would not be attending. With only two outside squads participating, he supposed it would not be enough to draw in other Kage. It was still a surprise the Kazekage would not come to see his own children though.

Only four squads made it this time. Never before had they seen so few teams making it this far. Although it was mostly Naruto's fault.

Shiranui Genma was eyeing the reports on the teams that made it and had also read the report on the going-ons of the Forest of Death Examination.

"I don't really understand the logic here… How did the rookie team make it this far where the others failed? Other teams from Konoha had far more experience. The same actually goes for the Grass Team, how did they make it to the finals?"

Hiruzen smoked his pipe and didn't answer Genma as he knew it was rhetorical. He knew the answer, though. Naruto told him there was an Uzumaki in the Grass Team. With the Uzumaki girl Naruto had nabbed from Oto it seems the blonde was trying to gather them.

"Gai's team and the team from Suna I can understand. I guess we'll see why the others made it today."

"You'll find yourself in quite an easy situation, I believe."

"You say this, but I've seen these reports on Suna's Jinchuuriki. Seems he even managed to kill some Jounin during missions."

"I don't think you'll have a problem."

Genma scratched the back of his head. "So is there anything else I should know?"

"Kakashi's rookie team. Uzumaki Naruto. If you think Sabaku no Gaara is dangerous, you don't even want to be in the same continent as Naruto."

The dead-last? "... What."

* * *

"Why are we here again? I know at least twelve places I'd rather be than in this dump."

"This is Konoha's Stadium, Shikamaru! Don't call it a dump!"

"Whatever."

"I can't believe one of the rookie teams made it!" Chouji interjected before Ino and Shikamaru started something.

Ino glared at Shikamaru, but agreed with Chouji shortly after. "I can't believe Forehead is actually still in it. It's probably because Sasuke-kun did all the heavy lifting."

"They've become a solid team. They got through the Forest of Death where you didn't." Sarutobi Asuma, their instructor, supplied.

"We got through it too! There just weren't any other teams to fight! We arrived at the Tower with only our own scroll!"

'Which is suspicious...' Shikamaru thought as Ino continued yelling. 'We didn't get attacked even once and didn't come across any other participants at all...'

"She's right!"

Seated behind team Ten was team Eight. Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata and Aburame Shino.

"We wanted to chase after several teams, but someone beat us to it every single time! It was like someone was messing with us!"

"Stop being so loud!" The Yamanaka girl shouted. The Inuzuka was yelling even though they were seated so close.

Shikamaru offered Ino a very dry look.

"Wanna know the crazy thing, though?" Kiba ignored Ino. "I kept on smelling that guy." He nodded down to the stadium.

"Who?" Chouji asked as they all stared down in the fighting area, where all the remaining participants stood.

"I've agreed with his assessment, his speculations seem accurate as they align with my own findings; My bugs could detect a similar Chakra every time. Chakra belonging to him." Shino nodded down once as well. "It was Uzumaki Naruto's."

'... What?' Shikamaru was completely perplexed. Forget Ino, even he was thinking they were talking about Sasuke.

"Hinata used her Byakugan, but he was nowhere in sight!" Kiba started yelling again. "It's fishy!"

"I believe he has acquired a technique capable of either blinding or blocking the Hyuga's Doujutsu."

'Naruto? That's impossible.' Shikamaru was stumped as they all stared down at the blonde down in the arena.

Ino sent both boys from team Eight a skeptical look. "You guys are delusional." Turning to Hinata, she continued. "I feel you, Hinata. My teammates aren't any good either."

Shikamaru didn't care and Chouji was too busy eating to notice.

* * *

The first match was between a Grass Genin called Hinatsu Atsuko and Konoha's Rock Lee.

Naruto wasn't particularly interested in the match. Rock Lee was a very talented Taijutsu User and Atsuko was a caterpillar summoner, her own body enhanced because of this particular summoning Contract.

She was poison, so maybe not the best match-up for Rock Lee.

The second match was Kankurou versus his teammate Haruno Sakura. He grinned as he told her to put a Genjutsu on the puppeteer during the first match.

The third match would be between Ten-Ten and another Grass Genin, this one named Katahi Toka. Ten-Ten should be able to win that easy, Naruto surmised. Ten-Ten at least was specialised in weaponry. Toka wasn't talented in either Taijutsu or Genjutsu, and her arsenal of Ninjutsu was quite abysmal.

But then, compared to his….

The fourth match was his own. Against Usone Karin. But he knew that Karin was actually an Uzumaki. It would be interesting to converse with her.

The fifth match was between Sabaku no Gaara and Temari. He was fairly certain the older sister would forfeit the match.

The sixth and final match pitted Uchiha Sasuke against Hyuga Neji. He was actually quite interested in this match.

* * *

Hyuga Neji watched the fight between his teammate and the Grass Genin in slight disinterest. Rock Lee had been poisoned from the get-go, as expected. He rushed in like a fool and got touched by one of her opponent's special moves.

He wasn't paying attention to what the name of the technique was.

No, he was paying more attention to the two boys of Team Seven.

Uchiha Sasuke was going to be his opponent and he had never fought a Sharingan user before. He had hoped he would be facing the Uchiha. To prove his own worth even further. He wasn't overly worried.

Uzumaki Naruto was not someone he wanted to face. The Sharingan might be an unknown factor for him, but that Naruto boy was too much of a question mark. Like would he be immune to the Gentle Fist?

If worst came to worst, he would go all out against him in these exams.

Taking his thoughts and eyes back to the match, he could see Lee was beating his opponent easy even while being poisoned. His stamina was crazy, after all.

* * *

Sakura was quite frustrated to see that her Genjutsu hadn't worked at all on Kankurou, despite her many efforts. Now they were down in the fighting arena, so she had to go without Genjutsu.

"It's really annoying, you know."

Sakura shot her opponent a puzzled look.

"I have to keep on adjusting my Chakra because of these Genjutsu tricks you're shooting my way. They interfere with my weaving."

Eyes widening, Sakura threw three smoke balls at her feet and retreated.

The second match had begun.

'I was targeting the puppet! Foolish!' Sakura berated herself while keeping her eye on any incoming attacks. 'Then is he inside the puppet?'

"The smoke won't save you, girl. "

Sakura whipped her head around and dodged a… claw?

She remembered Naruto's comments about poison so she had to make sure she wasn't touched.

Through the smoke she saw two figures, one hunched over and the other standing upright. She instantly noticed that neither the person standing upright or the person hunching over had big bundle on their backs.

Kankurou did have something on his back when the match started, which she had presumed was a puppet.

She got ready to execute Genjutsu on either of the two opponents she had now.

"You like smoke, huh? Here, I'll add to it!"

A purple fog surrounded her and Sakura acted immediately by focusing Chakra in her hands. "Chakra Pakku."

Kankurou couldn't see through the smoke yet so he didn't see how Chakra surrounded Sakura's head.

Chakra Pakku was a Chakra Exercise that surrounded the face.

'I hope this poison smoke of his can only hit me through my mouth and nose… If it's through the skin I'm screwed.' Sakura thought as she started running through the smoke towards Kankurou.

Kankurou snarled as three Sakura jumped out of the smoke, two probably Bunshin. All had Chakra swirling around their face. That's how she could still move and breathe. "Not bad!"

His puppet tore through one Bunshin and was going for the second when it suddenly disappeared.

His eyes snapped to the third only to see it disappear as well. "Shit!"

'She moves quick, she's caught me in a Genjutsu almost immediately after she got out of the smoke.'

Kankurou was moving back while making his puppet, Karasu, protect him. 'This Genjutsu hides her from my view.' He had to make sure he was protected adequately before cancelling out the Genjutsu with the handsign.

Sakura was a bit frustrated to see him protected so well. 'He has experience with Genjutsu.'

Kankurou managed to get out of the Genjutsu and spotted her a distance away from him.

"Took you long enough."

"I won't be beaten by a Konoha girl."

Sakura merely frowned before she turned into his sister.

Kankurou actually looked shocked for a second before quickly jumping away from an explosive tag. 'Fuck me… This girl's good with Genjutsu.' He came away unscathed from the explosion. Absentmindedly, he made Karasu rip through the fake Temari. He didn't mind doing that.

* * *

"Too bad… She did pretty well. He just had more battling experience."

"She could've won if it wasn't for the poison affecting her skin as well." Sasuke threw in with a shrug as he stood next to Naruto.

So far Rock Lee and Kankurou had made it to the next round of the Chuunin Exams. The next round would have six participants remaining and he wondered if the exams were only matches of one on one.

Ten-Ten easily defeated her opponent from Grass by surrounding her with weapons and making her fofeit so Naruto was up next.

Naruto grinned as the girl in front of him looked very insecure as she stared at him. Like this girl, Uzumaki naturally had red hair, just like Tayuya.

"You can't get a read on me, right?"

The red-haired girl flinched, eyes blinking insecurely behind her glasses.

"Y-you're not in even front of me, are you? Your Chakra is all around me!"

"You're right, I'm actually running circles around you and stopping just a little bit longer in front of you to keep this afterimage going." He clapped his hands. "Here, standing still now. But you still can't get a read on me… right?"

"You have so many Chakra Signatures… But they all seem incomplete. It almost seems as if you're put in an illusion." Karin narrowed her eyes behind her glasses. "From what I'm seeing, you're actually no one."

"But many." Naruto nodded his head. He started gathering a lot of Chakra. "How about now?"

"T-That's impossible!" Karin staggered backwards. "No one has that much Chakra!"

"Karin-san… After the Chuunin Exams, we should have a chat. But for now I think you should forfeit. I don't want to hurt family."

Suffice to say, Karin withdrew from the match pretty swiftly.

* * *

Like Naruto predicted Temari forfeited from the match before they even went down in the fighting area. They were all actually waiting on a balcony overlooking the grounds.

Naruto smiled wryly as he sensed Gaara's mood. The Jinchuuriki was as angry as he was confused. He was still being protected by his own sand, but he didn't hear the voices in his head anymore, he didn't feel the need to kill everyone and more importantly, he could sleep.

Ever since that old man hit him in the stomach in the Forest of Death he could sleep.

But he also had far less Chakra than before. There just was less. It was as if the old man had killed the Shukaku inside of him.

He didn't feel as secure without the enormous amount of Chakra of the Shukaku backing him up.

Kankurou and Temari had definitely noticed the change as well and were, next to still being scared, even a bit hopeful.

The next match was the only actual interesting one. How strong were these two really? They would try their hardest to beat the shit out of the other.

Hyuuga Neji versus Uchiha Sasuke.

Naruto relaxed as he leaned over the railing. Sakura had been taken to the hospital because she fell unconscious because of the poison. On the balcony now, only Gaara, Temari, Kankurou, Rock Lee and Ten-Ten were present.

''This ought to be good.'

* * *

Vision all around. Access to his organs and Chakra Points. Genjutsu won't work and close combat was not recommended.

"You any good?"

Neji lifted a single eyebrow. "I believe you will find out."

The referee had already allowed for them to commence.

"Let's see." As he was rapidly going through handseals, he was already planning the second technique.

"Katon, Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

Neji looked surprised at the giant fireball but easily evaded it. He also easily dodged Sasuke's second technique the Housenka.

Sasuke snarled at how easy Neji caught his Shuriken that were set ablaze because of the Housenka. 'So he can negate Chakra as well?'

"That was disappointing." Neji snorted as he dropped the Shuriken on the ground. "I'll show you how to properly fight."

Truth was, Neji had dealt with Shuriken on fire before. He simply remembered how to easily deal with them.

As Neji rushed him, Sasuke activated his Sharingan. Neji hadn't activated his own Doujutsu yet.

Hyuga Kata versus Uchiha Kata.

It was very refreshing for many of the watchers to see.

Sasuke was losing, though, as he was too busy trying not to get hit.

Backpedaling, Sasuke decided to go for strategy. "Kage Shuriken no Jutsu!"

"Byakugan!" Neji could now see the Chakra wires connected to all the Shuriken Sasuke had thrown around them. "I won't fall for this foolish trick."

Sasuke then quite softly threw Kunai into the air and followed up by throwing Shuriken towards them. The Shuriken hit all the Kunai in a certain way that all weapons were heading for Neji.

The young Uchiha rushed towards Neji into the line of fire.

"Kaiten!"

With no hesitation whatsoever, Sasuke didn't stop rushing at Neji and threw a new set of Shuriken while clinging his own Chakra to them. "Makitsukeru Shuriken!"

The previously thrown Shuriken and the newly thrown Shuriken all responded to Sasuke's Chakra and Sasuke made them all hit Neji's Heavenly Spin.

All Shuriken spun alongside Neji's rotation and Sasuke grinned as he flicked his fingers. Now all the Shuriken were surrounded by fire. It was quite a show.

His Sharingan could see through the Chakra of his own attack and through the Chakra of Neji's defense. The Hyuuga was still spinning and despite everything wasn't showing any signs of stopping.

The avenger gritted his teeth as the connection between him and his weapons was broken all of a sudden. 'Shit! He found out how to break my Chakra Wires!'

Helplessly, all Shuriken and Kunai fell to the ground and Neji eventually stopped spinning. The fire had also dwindled down."That was pretty good." Neji complemented. "What's next?"

* * *

"He isn't bad, that Hyuuga. I've seen way worse from that Clan." Naruto spoke as he was still leaning over the railing. "Sasuke's bag of tricks might run empty."

Among those waiting were Gaara, Temari, Lee, Ten-Ten and Kankurou.

"Neji is very hard to defeat. I don't think your teammate can do it." Lee responded as he walked up next to Naruto.

"We'll see." The blonde shrugged. "If anything it's fun to watch, right?"

* * *

"Your defense is pretty good."

Neji wasn't unnerved by the stare of the Sharingan. He simply threw his opponent a grin. "Show me what else you can come up with."

Performing a simple handseal, Sasuke muttered "Kage Bunshin." It took him a lot of Chakra, but against an opponent like this he might need more than one direction to attack from. He had created one extra Shadow Clone.

Bending the knees a bit, the clone readied himself for close combat. The original got ready to perform distance attacks. "Here goes."

Neji's eyes widened a bit as Sasuke's speed had increased, but it was nothing he couldn't deal with.

The Kage Bunshin suddenly had lightning chirping around his right arm and was approaching him fast, while the original had just finished handseals.

"Katon, Ryuuka no Jutsu!"

'A powerful one, my Kaiten might work against me with that one.' His opponent might be fast, but so was Neji.

Fully activating his Byakugan allowed for his environment's speed to slow down for his vision. He grinned as he could easily dance around both his opponents.

He acknowledged that getting close to that lightning-based close combat technique was unwise, so he went straight for the real Sasuke while completely sidestepping the executed Fire stream attack.

But Sasuke's Sharingan saw him.

Neji was surprised when Sasuke dodged his physical attacks and had to actually withdraw when the Kage Bunshin entered the fray once more.

"You fear the Chidori." Sasuke deduced as Neji was staying away from his Shadow Clone. "As you should. It's meant to kill, after all."

'So his Kaiten can't deal with this kind of attack? Or is it that he does not know?' He readied himself again when Neji got away from his clone and was approaching him again. 'He is faster than I am and he can see all Chakra. I have to goad him.' He quickly performed the same handseals for the Ryuuka no Jutsu to get Neji wary.

Just as he was about to perform the technique, Sasuke performed the Shunshin instead to get behind the dodging Neji.

But the joke was on him.

"Game over." The older Genin held a Kunai to Sasuke's throat. "Feints don't work on the Byakugan and I am extremely familiar with how Chakra is gathered before the Shunshin is performed." He thanked Gai for this. "Usage of your own Shunshin fogged the vision of your own Sharingan, making it harder for you to see my next move."

Neji glanced sideways to see Sasuke's Kage Bunshin still with Chidori active. "Dispel your clone or face severe consequence." He pushed his Kunai threateningly close to Sasuke's throat.

All of a sudden, Sasuke and his Kage Bunshin switched with each other and Neji was now threatened by the Chidori.

Or he would be, if his Byakugan hadn't been active.

The Kage Bunshin caught nothing but air as Neji had performed the Kawarimi at exactly the same time as Sasuke and was STILL holding the Kunai to the Uchiha's throat.

"Unfortunately, I am also extremely familiar with the Kawarimi's pre-Chakra workings." He supposed Gai was an adequate instructor, after all.

"I also saw your explosive tag and know how to deactivate it with my own Chakra. Yours was a very primitive one."

Between the two opponents, there was a deactivated Explosive tag on the ground which Neji was touching with his right foot. He had poured Chakra into it, overloading it and making it useless.

"A good trick and you even anticipated me seeing through your Kawarimi. But the Byakugan sees all." Again he moved his Kunai threateningly. "Forfeit, Uchiha Sasuke."

"Very well." Sasuke motioned to the referee that he would give up. His Shadow Clone dispelled shortly after.

"You pushed my Byakugan to the fullest, Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke frowned as he could finally walk away from Neji and his weapon. What was it with these guys that always liked to say names fully?

"I commend you for that. I wonder how your teammate will fight."

"You'll lose against him." Sasuke threw over his shoulder as he walked away. "I stand no chance against that guy."

Now Neji was intrigued.

* * *

"Sasuke-kun lost!"

"I couldn't follow their movements at all..." Kiba despairingly muttered. "Man, it's a good thing we didn't get through, huh, Akamaru?"

"Indeed. Also important to note is that the so-called 'dead-last' of our class is the only one from our graduation still participating." Shino added.

Shikamaru had also noticed the same thing. But then, his opponent had forfeited after some talking. Did the blonde just get lucky?

Ino was still screaming about Sasuke when the Nara took a more elaborate view on Naruto from where he sat.

'He's definitely different. He has a different air about him.' As he took at the remaining Genin still in the Chuunin Exams, he couldn't help but analyze that Naruto was definitely the most confident of the lot.

Sabaku no Gaara had a scary look about him, but he also seemed to be very lost. He kept on clenching his fists, too, as if waiting for a certain sensation.

Kankurou, the one with all the purple paint on his face, was trying to look as intimidating as possible, but there was confusion rolling off of him and he kept on stealing glances at his teammate Gaara.

Uzumaki Naruto was casually hanging back against the wall with his eyes closed. He seemed to truly not have a care in the world. Shikamaru was very envious.

Ten-Ten had a good victory so she also held certain confidence, but she knew she would not be able to defeat most of the Genin around her. Especially her own teammates.

Rock Lee was jumping around not able to contain his excitement. The Nara was sure he still tricks up his sleeve, to.

Hyuga Neji was almost as confident as Naruto, but the young Nara had seen the very brief glances he shot Naruto's way.

'He noticed something about Naruto too?'

"My bugs are quite wary, too."

Shikamaru looked confused as Shino was speaking to him. "What." Kiba and Ino seemed to be yelling at each other, while Hinata tried but utterly failed, to calm Kiba down. Chouji seemed to be inspecting the inside of his chips bag a bit too scrutinizingly.

"I had bugs stationed at the balcony out of curiosity." The Aburame continued. "They're afraid of Naruto and Gaara, or more specifically, their Chakra. They have given me no explanation. It is peculiar. My bugs have never feared Chakra before this."

So Sabaku no Gaara was also a big player.

"I don't know what you're talking about Shino. I'm just trying to stay awake here."

"I am sure."

* * *

"Alright, the final players have thus been revealed!" The Hokage's powerful voice boomed all around and inside the arena. "From now on, the remaining participants will be performing in a league of sorts. Each will fight each other. You have time to prepare, starting next week, every day will have two matches. These matches are randomised, so you won't know who you will be facing on this day."

"That is very interesting." Naruto nodded, talking bout the Hokage's ending speech at the stadium. "Seems I will be having some fun kicking everyone's face in the dirt." He and Sasuke were walking home after the event.

Sasuke was sulking. He really wanted to advance. "What could I have done better against that Hyuga?"

Blue eyes regarded him calmly. "Nothing. He just carried more experience and he had dealt with most of the attacks you threw at him oftentimes before. But if I had been you, I would have gone for his eyes from the very start. Thrown caution to the wind and gouged at least one of them out."

"What?"

"You heard me. Against a Doujutsu user, you'd better destroy the eyes. If you were my enemy during a mission, I would aim all explosives at your eyes."

"You're a very kind person, Naruto."

A snort escaped Naruto's mouth. "Sasuke, I think it's time to get your Sharingan evolved. Let's go train often, alright?"

"You know about the stages?"

"Yes. Stress and pain, inner turmoil and loss. Losing and suffering makes you Uchiha stronger. Apparently losing someone close to you speeds up the process. I can deliver you some pain, but suffering? I guess we'll just have to kill you brother for that."

Sasuke tensed up at the mention, but wasn't deterred. "Yes. Let's kill my brother."

* * *

"I can't believe he lost!"

"It was Hyuuga Neji, after all." Sakura murmured as she was rummaging through her backpack looking for a bottle of water. She and Ino decided to go to the training ground Sasuke and Naruto were training at. "Besides being a prodigy, he has a year on us, too."

"It seems so unfair that a guy like that is in the Chuunin Exams we chose to take as well! Who can beat a guy like that?!" Ino threw her arms in the air to seemingly accentuate the fact.

"Well, Naruto will probably defeat him." Sakura casually threw back while she took a sip of her water bottle.

Ino stopped walking. "It's almost as if you sound serious. Sasuke-kun was defeated, Sakura! There's no way that loser will beat Hyuga Neji!"

"Naruto defeats Sasuke all the time, Ino." Sakura narrowed her eyes as they were approaching the training grounds. "Sometimes I think he can even beat Kakashi-sensei."

Ino rolled her eyes as the sounds of fighting came to her ears. "You're delusional, Sakura, but I think I've mentioned this many times before."

But she ate her own words as she saw Sasuke and Naruto spar.

Or rather, as she saw Sasuke run and jump for his life with how Naruto was tearing the ground from the earth to eat and rip into Sasuke.

"W-what?!"

"This is nothing, he is holding back." Sakura wasn't even surprised anymore when Naruto threw a gigantic dragon made out of water and lightning at Sasuke.

"Sakura!?" The pink-haired girl ignored the frantic tugs Ino gave her dress. "What the hell is happening?!" The ground started shaking as two dragons made out of mud joined in on chasing the very frightened looking Uchiha.

"A comrade of mine will not lose against anyone!" Naruto roared as three huge dragons were roaring towards Sasuke. The blonde wasn't even performing any handseals!

But Sasuke, despite being scared shitless, was doing well avoiding these Jutsu. His Sharingan was working overtime.

She felt relief as Naruto made his dragons die down.

Sakura could see the fatigue in the Uchiha though. She could see that Naruto had roughed him up pretty badly as Sasuke was bleeding profusely.

And then the mist rolled in. They stayed quite far away from the battlefield, so they could still see their silhouettes through the mist.

"Kirigakure no Jutsu." Sakura recognised. "Naruto is getting crazy strong, it's almost as if he has a Sharingan of his own."

Ino was completely perplexed as Sakura was remaining as calm as a stone.

"He's forcing Sasuke not to rely on the Sharingan too much."

Both girls turned around to see Hatake Kakashi. "You did well in the Chuunin Exams, Sakura. Your opponent just had a bit more experience fighting serious battles. I'm sure you'll do much better next time." His single eye then moved over to where the battle was taking place.

"They've been at it for quite some time now." The pink-haired Genin supplied.

"Yes, I trust they have. I hope Naruto has gone easy on him though."

"What the hell are you guys talking about?! That's dead-last Naruto! Why would he go easy on Sasuke-kun?!"

"Oh!" Kakashi genuinely acted as if he had JUST noticed Ino. "Who's your friend?"

"Yamanaka Ino. Shinobi of the Loud."

Kakashi nodded.

"We came here to watch them train, but it seems a bit dangerous."

Through the mist, Kakashi and Sakura recognised the sound of the Chidori. "Yes, perhaps a bit." The Copycat admitted. "He's using that Jutsu a bit too casually. Although it won't do him any good against Naruto here. He's a bit hardheaded, hm?"

"Both of them are."

The Mist faded and they could see Naruto supporting Sasuke as they came walking towards them.

"He's doing pretty good, Kakashi. I think it's time we introduce them."

Kakashi shook his head. "Not without Hokage-sama's permission."

It might still be too early to make Danzo train Sasuke. 'Then again, looking at his utterly beaten form here, Naruto's not any better.' Kakashi thought as he saw the state Sasuke was in.

"Is he even conscious?" His female student asked.

"Of course not." The blonde boy seemed affronted. "Why would we have stopped training otherwise, you silly girl.

Now Sakura looked affronted.

"You… you defeated Sasuke-kun… too?"

Naruto turned to Ino. "Oh! You're here too!"

The blonde girl glared. Was she invisible?

"Sasuke isn't very hard to defeat. He's still a tad too arrogant, thinking he can use the Chidori so often. And besides, if you push the right buttons, you can defeat anyone." He then unceremoniously dropped Sasuke to the ground. "Why are you here anyway?"

Naruto didn't much like Yamanaka people.

She wanted to jump to Sasuke and glared at Naruto for dropping him. Sakura beat her to it though. "I-I just accompanied Sakura!" Since when was she so nervous around Naruto? But standing this close to the blonde, Ino realized Naruto had changed drastically. Where was the loudmouth dead-last prankster moron?

"I took Sakura for a smarter person. Surely, taking a Sasuke fangirl to a Sasuke beatdown party is a bad idea?"

The girl in question glared "Maybe so, but she wouldn't believe me when I told her you would probably win the Chuunin Exams!"

"What she believes is not very important, though." Naruto wondered out loud as he locked eyes with Sakura.

"Don't call me a Sasuke fangirl!" Ino finally managed to regain her voice.

The Jinchuuriki scratched the back of his head. "This training session is over. I broke a few of his ribs, I believe… I almost cut off his right ear, too. Oh, we finished the fight with him taking quite a hard hit. He didn't fully manage to evade this boulder I threw at him. I guess he didn't have enough Chakra to keep his Sharingan up near the end."

The only Jounin there sighed as he went to pick him up. "I am sure he wants to get right back into it as soon as wakes up?"

Naruto nodded at that. "He is pretty motivated to get his mug smashed in, yeah."

"Naruto!" Sakura admonished.

"W-why are we still standing here?! Take Sasuke-kun to a hospital now!"

Kakashi and Naruto both lifted an eyebrow at Ino.

"It's just a few broken ribs, Ino. That's nothing. A few days ago he ran into one of my Wind Jutsu and it actually cut into his stomach. It wasn't such a pretty sight."

""WHAT!?" Now both girls had yelled.

"Hey, it's his fault for running into my Wind Technique." The Uzumaki shrugged.

* * *

The wind was taking quite an ominous feeling with it as Naruto was sitting on the Yondaime's mountain face.

Sasuke was rapidly improving and he wanted to make Sakura stronger too, but she wasn't ready yet to deal with his harsh training. For now he would let Haku train her.

"_**Human, there's something wrong. I sense a weird distortion. Chakra enhanced. It is a vile one, I am sure this is an Uchiha's work."**_

Intrigued, Naruto further advanced his own senses at Kurama's warning.

He heard the footsteps approach, but could sense no hostility in the air.

"Oyyyyy! I need your help I seem to be lost! I'm stepping on the wrong head!"

The yondaime's head? Naruto seemed a bit confused at that bit, although he knew fully well who this stranger was.

"I'm glad someone is here! You see, you see, I need to find my way back to my friends!"

"Your friends?" The Konoha Genin repeated.

The stranger with a strange mask and a cloak with dark red clouds nodded quickly. "Yes, my friends! They all wear the same clothes!"

"Akatsuki, then."

"Interesting." Right there, the stranger's demeanor did a complete turnaround. "Uzumaki Naruto."

The younger of the two gave a small smile. "Hello, Uchiha Obito. I was waiting for you to arrive."

"..." The stranger seemed stumped. "... How do you know that name?"

"Don't be a fool. You're not the only one lurking in the darkness of the Shinobi World."

In truth, one of his absorbees had encountered Obito before, but this particular memory had been hidden. As it turned out though, memories were easily accessed by him. To think that someone actually managed to mind-work Shimura Danzo. It was impressive.

Obito was very much surprised. This boy knew who he was, but apparently hadn't told anyone in Konoha. "I can only assume the Kyuubi… You're in contact with the Bijuu, then."

"My cards won't show so easily, Obito-san. More importantly, the fact of the matter is that I have been waiting for you."

"How? How could you have possibly known that I would show up here?"

"Not necessarily here… But I'm sure Zetsu has observed quite a lot. He has his eyes on all Jinchuuriki, right?"

Obito conceded. "Indeed. He has told me you seem to be aware of him, but he wasn't too sure. It seems you were."

"I am in control of what he can observe. He has seen close to nothing about me. I've made him see one thing..."

"Yes." Because of this one thing, Obito decided to visit young Naruto in Konoha. "You conversing with Danzo as casual friends. Very, very suspicious."

"I wanted to tell you that you will never have the Kyuubi." Naruto started. "Use Edo Tensei and just revive Ginkaku and Kinkaku. The Uzumaki Jinchuuriki are too risky because the Edo Tensei is Fuuinjutsu, after all. It might backfire."

"You know a lot." Obito remained calm. Naruto had to praise the man.

"I will give you a big amount of the Kyuubi's Chakra if you give me Uchiha Itachi and Uzumaki Nagato."

"I assume you know all of this because of Danzo?"

Naruto shrugged as he walked past Obito without a care in the world. "Just sit on it, Obito-san. You don't have to decide now. You're still a bothersome opponent for me, since you can simply whisk yourself away in the blink of an eye. Who knows you might be able to take the Kyuubi from me, after all?"

Obito could read between the lines, as he was taught by the Yondaime. This boy held a lot of valuable cards in the upcoming conflicts to come. And he held knowledge.

"Eventually, I will come to know more." The Uchiha responded. "This was a very interesting conversation."

"And we will have more. Perhaps we can even be allies someday."

Obito let out a snort of amusement. "Someday never means anytime soon... if ever.."

But the Uchiha was intrigued. 'He's after Itachi and Nagato, huh?' He thought as he used Kamui on himself to travel away.

Naruto watched the spot Obito just vacated. "I'll have you too, Uchiha Obito." He dusted himself off a bit before he decided to strengthen a certain relationship. He would divulge information to The Third Hokage and make Konoha strong.

They needed to put Kumogakure and Iwagakure in their place, they had grown too arrogant.

It was time they shadow-ally themselves with the Akatsuki…

And then take over the entire organization...

* * *

TBC

Some translations:

Shizentouta - Natural Selection.  
Naruto's ability.

Chakra Pakku - Chakra Facemask

Chakra protects the head.

Makitukeru Kunai/Shuriken - Wrapping Kunai/Shuriken Technique  
By usage of Wires.

Thank you for reading. I apologize if things seem a tad rushed. I've come to accept it's just how I write. This was not pre-read.


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